Are you making a killing or living?

By Zawadi Lompisha

I have been wondering what to write about this week. Having Millie G and Tony M mention me in their articles last Saturday hasn’t helped matters at all. Tony and Millie are nice people just that we are rarely on the same side. This past Saturday Millie and I were on opposite sides as usual but what scared me was that I generally agreed with Tony’s article.

The last time I agreed with Tony was when he came out barrels blazing, after some girl – whose name I forget - who represented Kenya in Big Brother Africa…but seeing as this column is Husbands and Wives and not critique your fellow columnists, let me stick to the matter at hand.

When you are making a killing you don’t even see the roses because your chauffeur driving you in your nice luxury car ran over them.

I have a number of dear friends who have risen meteorically in their careers and who are now reaping the fruit of their labour. In other words, they are rich. I was talking with one of them, let’s call her Grace, the other day. We were catching up, discussing our plans for the New Year and all that blah that women love to do.

I have made choices in my life that haven’t gone down very well with these dear friends of mine. I have passed up quite a number of promotions; declined job offers that would take me away from my family even though the pay was triple what I was earning and refused to get a credit card so I could live within my means. My friends have thrown in the towel on me and told me to do as I please.

So, it wasn’t surprising that during my meeting with Grace, the conversation moved to my life. Instead of Grace asking me if I am going to make choices that would raise my bank balance, as is normally the case, she went off on a surprising tangent. She told me about how she really admires my life and the choices I have made over the years.

Taken aback

I was rather taken aback because she is the one with the huge house with a pool, luxury car, several rental houses and children in a high cost school. I could go on and on. When we meet, I prefer finding my way to the venue because I don’t particularly enjoy the attention we get when we are in her nice car.

Don’t get me wrong, her car is really nice and maybe if I was someone else, I would be dying of jealousy because mine doesn’t measure up but as the lyrics of a certain song went: "that don’t impress me much".

So here was Mrs have-it-all confessing how she loves my life! Since I wasn’t sure how to handle the confession, I listened. She went on about how their life is almost in shambles because they are upto their neck in debt. The global economic crunch hit her husband’s business quite hard and they were finding it hard maintaining their high cost lifestyle with the reduced income.

"When I look at you Zawadi, you are still living a life you can afford just like when we began working. You go on more holidays than I do, yet we make more money than you. You spend time with your family…your skin is not breaking out due to stress like mine…how do you do it?" Grace implored.

Well, I told Grace a little secret. I discovered many years ago that there’s a difference between making a living and making a killing. I had been making a living and she had been making a killing. My husband and I agreed a long time ago to live within our means no matter what. We also agreed that if we ever made a lot of money, we would strive to keep each other in check so that our lifestyle doesn’t become excessive.

You see, when you are making a living, you are able to stop and smell the roses along the way. When you are making a killing you don’t even see the roses because your chauffeur driving you in your nice luxury car ran over them.

When Grace and I parted, I wondered if she was willing to do the radical surgery she needed. How about you my dear reader, are you making a killing or making a living? Think about it.