Tapestry Views

"Economics is the only dynamic force in history and all other aspects of humanity and society are determined by it, thus, an historian must examine the means of production and exchange to understand the basis of all historical progress" - Karl Marx.

Indeed, economics, which is based on production and exchange, is the foundation of all nations . No nation of the world is self sufficient, meaning no nation possesses all what is needed economically to succeed. To cater for this need, the idea of international trade was conceived. International trade therefore, is an avenue for exchange of production between two countries. In essence, production and exchange is of paramount importance in every country. A market is a place for this exchange as people sell products in order to get a value i.e money for the product sold.

However, this economic process cannot be limited to material exchange only. It is also useful for the understanding of how relationships are formed- especially in dating and marriage.

Contrary to the general notion that love is the basis for coming together of a male and female, research  shows that the basis for marriage or dating is actually not love but exchange of human quality or value.  However, after being together, love could grow out of the relationship. But in the first instance, love is not the basis. 

Exchange in this case has to do with the quality in which an individual posses.  Such qualities as intellect, physique, composure, character, and of course material things top the list . All this and more are commodity that are being traded in the market of relationship.  They are the determinant of whom an individual will eventually end up with.

For instance, I attended a singles program in which the moderator threw the  question, "what is the quality your potential spouse must have?", to the audience.  Some of the answers given by ladies amongst several were: "he must know how to woo a lady", "he must be romantic" , "he must be fluent in English" , and of course a charming physique. The guys however had a different criteria. They simply care more about the shape and the character.

More also, a survey was carried out using an open ended questionnaire targeting singles, male and female. A total of  140 responses were gotten from both sexes. The female respondents were asked :"can you marry a guy that does not have a life focus and plans for the future even though you love him?" While their male counterparts were asked : "can you marry a girl that is uneducated, taller and older than you?". Analyzing the results gotten from the females shows that 5.7% was undecided, 10% replied yes, with the explanation that they can help him discover himself since they love him, while 84.3% outrightly said no! One of the responses that fascinated me the most is as quoted: "love is not enough".

For the  male respondents, 1.4% was undecided, 12.8% replied yes, while 85.7% said no. I however found the following response interesting: "I can't even fall in love with such a person".
Thus, the scenario above and the survey clarify that people does not start a relationship based on love but rather an exchange of value(s).

The trade prior to relationship is similar to a normal buying and selling activities in the market whereby  the buyer will look at what the seller is displaying. If the buyer is pleased with what is displayed, s/he will bid for the product (if not he will move along). The seller on the other hand will consider whether what the buyer has to offer is worth the product or not.  If it does, an agreement will be reached(if not the offer will be rejected).

Therefore, the quality of the product, as perceived by the buyer, will determine the money s/he will be willing to offer. Also, the money offered for the product will determine if it will be acquired...
In this case, the buyer/seller could be a male or a female. This is dependent on who saw the value that interests him/her first. And not only stopping there, but going all the way to make a "purchase".
Now, the higher institution affords us the chance to add more values. Doing this will enable us to have something to trade with.

Also, economics theory of supply works well in relationship trade. The law which states that "the higher the price ,the higher the quantity supply. The lower the price, the lower the quantity supply" ,explains the fact that the quality you posses (intellect, physique, composure, material e.t.c) will determine the supply of quality you will get.


In other word, if the level of quality you posses is 40% ,you will most likely end up with someone whose standard is 40% or less. Therefore if you are gifted with a nice physique ,work on it well so as to get the best out of those attracted to it and if you are intelligent, be vast in knowledge in order to get the best out of those attracted to brilliance. But ultimately for guys, make sure you also develop your pocket because when it comes to relationship... love is not enough.

Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks and years have passed since the prophecy of Karl Marx about the world rolling back to communism, a socioeconomic order structure upon the common ownership of the means of production and the absence of social classes,money and the state. Here, laziness is encouraged while hardwork and creativity is discouraged. Marx proposed this rolling back by violence revolution against the present world economic order- capitalism.

Capitalism, an  economic system based on private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit, is a widely condemned economic system by Karl Marx because he thought it to be highly exploitative. However, while Karl Marx see exploitation in capitalism, I perceive it as an economic system that pave way for the hardworking and creative people.

For instance, unilorin  scholarship program is open to all students. This is because, every students  started their chase with an initial 0.00 cgpa, but only few get to the top of their classes and thereby styled university scholars. While some claim scholars are naturally gifted, there is no disputing fact that hardwork has a major share in their academic success.

In  the material world,  although slightly different, some are born with silver spoon. Others however are born with "no spoon". Some, in the latter category have managed to get both silver and gold spoon-regardless.

People also believe rich fellas have a shortcut to success- sure they do!. The shortcut however is what capitalism preaches- hardwork and creativity.

It is therefore evident that we are all born into capitalism with equal chance of becoming a capitalist.
Therefore, it is impossible for the world to roll back to communism ( where people with creative mind and hardworking habit suffer and face exploitation). This is because of human potential of "objectivation" (creativity) in which Karl Marx himself wrote about. Objectivation will lead to high demand for products of creative minded people thereby leading to acquisition of personal wealth which ultimately unfolds capitalism.

However, the present world makes provision for the creative minded people. Allowing them to climb the ladder of achievement through the output of their creative thought by rewarding their hardwork and creativity. People like Seun Osewa of nairaland.comwho happens to be a dropout. The youngest billionaire in the world, Mark Zuckerberge of Facebook ,a drop out also. Professor Wole Soyinka, an English teacher of English people. John Nash who wrote a doctoral thesis that won a Nobel laureate at age 21,  and many others.This is the world of hard workers- creative thinkers- and inventors. They understand the truth that thinking alone is not enough- so they dare to act on their thoughts. They never stop at dreaming, they go all the way to actualise them. Procrastinating less, daring the impossible and using their imagination describe their habits.These people are the present capitalist.
    Although , in a developing country like Nigeria, Karl Marx' prophecy seems to be coming into reality because of the level of corruption and injustice. In these countries, unemployment is the order of the day, the ones that are employed suffers because of irregular salaries. Even still, the prophecy seems not to be coming into reality. The oppressed, who are to rise and cause the supposed  revolution are busy fighting religious wars,some of them have their eyes glued to the black boxes-TVs, for hours watching movies and even porn. Many of them have their hands constantly moving while chatting on various social platforms. Those with a little passion for change have started their hash tag movements, where they write letters to the president of a nation through their class WhatsApp groups with the hope of catching the attention of the president via that.

However, with all this evident challenges in developing countries, many did not allow those to limit them. They surpass the obstacles,  climbing the ladder gradually to the top using Internet and social media as their great ally into actualising their dreams. Organisations  such as DareWord which is aimed at building the minds of individuals (especially youths and teens) to live beyond the limits of their circumstances through excellent motivation and mentoring ; Gifted Ability Talented and Education (GATE initiative) seeking young gifted and talented people;and several others. People like Zion noise, Oliver and their likes chose entertainment. Some are into politics. Readily examples are Eminent, Comrade Deji, Reality, Sen Lugman,and so on. Others however went for business. Now, these people and folks like them do not only conceive the ideas but they are working towards actualising them. They see the limitations but chose to ignore them-they move forward still. They believe in the sayings of Folorunsho Samuel( CEO of DareWord) that  "if you think what you don't have is what you need to succeed, then you may never be because their will always be   things you don't have. A man will always be in a less- than perfect situation ". A quote by a beautiful minded person says "we can achieve all our dreams if only we learn to shut our eyes to impossibilities and open them to possibilities." -Erudite.
Since failure is inevitable in the making of success, these people face failures too. Nevertheless, they keep pressing on and working harder rather than relying on chance, these guys revolutionize their thoughts, leave their comfort zones and create their own chance and opportunities.

Although, there are several limitations to actualising our dreams as humans but we must care less about the things we don't have for now. Let us focus on the ones in our possessions- our ability to work hard and be creative.