Have you ever been in debt that is overwhelmingly discouraging in terms of your ability to pay it? Its not really hard to find oneself in that position given the amount of loans available and the interest charged on top of normal interest, and late payment penalties. The debt balloons.
I asked a couple chaps the cost of their purchase when they buy on credit. With the slogan that some things are too precious to have a price, but for everything else there is Mastercard, we tend to believe that this is a good thing.
Everything else can be a pain to pay when you cannot afford it but lulled by the ease of handing over a piece of plastic and *poof* you have the object of your desire without pulling paper currency out of your wallet. Then you work out how much is the minimum payment and decide you can afford it.
Until you take that INSTANT APPROVAL personal loan to pay your overdue credit card payment, and then miss your housing loan payment or car installment a couple months and the overlapping interests on differing loans start to quickly overwhelm you.
At some point, this flimsy house of cards collapses on you and then real financial ruin, shame and disappointment of your family, financial ruin and immense worry just buries you in all the holes you dug getting into debt.
Some of us cannot handle that kind of pressure and desperation sets in. This is the screw-up zone, and depending on what is at stake, many of us tend to do incredibly damaging actions that worsen our situation instead of helping it.
Like this chap here.
That was an incredible gamble and desperation drove him to commit what is a crime. He used his position to acquire the phone number of a member of the royal family. He sent an unsolicited message. God knows what else he said, the pleading of a desperate man in severe debt.
- He will lose his job, therefore losing his income.
- He is remanded by the police to investigate a case that is clear cut.
- He will be found guilty and punished.
- Now everyone will know and his shame is greater.
- His personal troubles have just gotten much worse.
- Desperation is probably replaced with hopelessness.
I feel for him. Been there, thankfully did not do that. If I had the money, as the holy month of Ramadan approaches, its to my advantage to sedekah and pay his debt, or at least provide some relief.
Maybe someone can start passing the plate to collect donation. I will definitely support and donate what I can afford. Being abroad just means that managing the donation drive is a little out of my reach.
The spirit of Ramadhan is when in our test of patience, our generosity should also flourish, and our empathy to our fellow man would be at its highest. Our reward and feelgood factor is also stacked higher.
His relief will also be great, and at least he will know that he is not alone, and not everybody is laughing at him. Some of us, we understand.
Wannabe 