In a small village in Nigeria lived a young girl named Sarah. Since childhood, Sarah was never satisfied with what she had. She always wanted the toys, clothes, or belongings of other children. Her mother, Mama Sarah, ran a small hair salon where the women of the neighborhood came to have their hair braided.
Although exhausted from work, Mama Sarah always tried to please her daughter. But Sarah wanted everything she saw. If another child had a new toy or a colorful notebook, she threw tantrums until her mother promised to give her the same thing. The neighbors began to criticize her. Some said she was too spoiled. Others blamed her mother for being too weak.
Yet despite all the sacrifices, Sarah never felt happy or fulfilled.
At 10 years old, Sarah was growing up in her small Nigerian village, but her behavior was becoming more and more difficult. She no longer simply envied other children’s belongings. She acted in order to get them. When a classmate showed a shiny toy or a new doll, she would take it without asking, saying, “I just want to play for a moment.”
But she never returned the objects on time, and sometimes not at all. The other children, annoyed, began to avoid her. They knew that if they played with Sarah, they risked losing their belongings. In the schoolyard, the girls formed groups to protect themselves from her, whispering, “Be careful, Sarah is going to ask for something again.”
Despite this, Sarah did not see the problem. To her, taking what she wanted was normal because she always felt lacking.
Mama Sarah, for her part, was exhausted. She worked hard in her hair salon, braiding hair until late at night to earn enough to provide for her daughter. She remembered her own childhood marked by poverty, when she had neither toys nor nice clothes. She wanted to give Sarah everything she had never had.
But every time she gave in to her daughter’s whims, buying a new toy or a colorful dress, Sarah remained dissatisfied. A few days later, she would see another little girl with something different and begin crying, begging, or sulking again.
Mama Sarah felt guilty, thinking she was not doing enough. Yet she was beginning to understand that her indulgence was making things worse. She saw in Sarah’s eyes an insatiable desire, like a fire that never went out.
The villagers were not kind. Some said, “That child is too spoiled. She respects nothing.” Others criticized Mama Sarah. “She is too weak. She lets Sarah control everything.”
Those words hurt the mother, but she did not know how to change her daughter. She often prayed that Sarah would learn to be content with what she had. She spoke to her gently, explaining that happiness does not come from objects, but from the heart.
But Sarah did not listen.
She spent her time watching other children, comparing their clothes, their shoes, their schoolbags. Every new object she saw became an obsession. She imagined that owning those things would finally make her happy. But every acquisition only fed her desire.
At school, the teachers also noticed her behavior. Sarah was intelligent, but she was distracted by her need to possess things. If a classmate had a shiny pen, she did everything she could to get it, even inventing excuses.
Once, she convinced a friend to give her a doll by saying, “My mother doesn’t have money to buy me one.” It was not true, but Sarah had manipulated the others.
That behavior sometimes brought her friends, but never for long. The children grew tired of her constant demands.
At home, Mama Sarah could clearly see that her daughter’s envy was growing like a shadow. She wondered if she had done wrong by giving her too much, or if Sarah had simply been born with that emptiness in her heart.
Sarah did not see the consequences of her actions. She thought everyone had more than she did, that others lived better. That jealousy consumed her, but she did not know how to stop.
She lived in a vicious circle: envy, obtain, then envy even more.
It was no longer just toys or clothes. It was a thirst for everything that shone, everything that seemed to make others happy. And yet, despite all the objects she accumulated, Sarah never found peace.
At 16, Sarah had become a noticeable teenager at school, but not for good reasons. She was not known for her grades or her kindness, but for her habit of “borrowing” everything she liked.
Whether it was a colored pen, a sparkling hair clip, perfume, or even an idea for an assignment, Sarah always found a way to convince her classmates to lend her their things.
She had a special talent for speaking sweetly, smiling at the right moment, and giving compliments that disarmed others.
“Oh, your necklace is beautiful. Can I try it just once?” she would say with an innocent look.
It was almost impossible to say no to her.
But behind that charm, her heart was being devoured by an insatiable envy. At first, her classmates were flattered by her attention, but they quickly understood that Sarah almost never returned what she borrowed.
Once, she took a scarf from a friend, promising to return it the next day. A week later, she was still wearing the scarf, pretending she had forgotten.
The students began to distrust her. They joked among themselves, “If you want your item to disappear, show it to Sarah.”
Their mockery hurt Sarah, but she did not change. She always felt lacking, as if possessing other people’s things could fill the emptiness inside her.
Even when she got what she wanted, the satisfaction never lasted. A few days later, she would see another object, another person, and her envy would return even stronger.
Her best friend, Grace, was the only one who still trusted her. But even Grace was beginning to doubt.
She wondered, “Does Sarah love me for who I am, or only for what I can give her?”
One day, Grace received a silver bracelet from her aunt. Sarah admired it for days, repeating, “It looks so good on you, but I’m sure it would suit me too.”
Eventually, Grace lent it to her, but Sarah did not return it.
When Grace asked for it back, Sarah replied, “Oh, I lost it. I’m sorry.”
But Grace had seen her wearing it in secret. Their friendship began to crumble, and Sarah found herself even more alone.
Yet she still did not see the problem. To her, borrowing was just a way to feel better, even if only temporarily.
At home, Mama Sarah was losing hope. She saw her daughter sinking into a behavior she did not understand. She tried to talk to her.
“Sarah, why do you always want what others have? You already have so many things.”
But Sarah shrugged and said, “You don’t understand, Mama. Everyone has better things than me.”
Mama Sarah felt guilty. She thought about all the times she had given in to her daughter’s whims, hoping to offer her a better life than her own. But she realized that her love might have fed that endless envy.
She prayed that Sarah would change, but the teenager seemed trapped by her desires.
In the village, people talked. Some said Sarah was manipulative. Others said she was simply lost. The teachers noted that she had potential, but she wasted her energy envying others.
Sarah continued living in her world where every shiny object was a promise of happiness. But that happiness never came. Every new acquisition, every borrowed thing she obtained, only fed her jealousy.
She looked at others with envy, thinking they were happier, luckier. Yet deep inside, a small voice whispered that she was wrong. But she ignored it.
Her heart, trapped by envy, prevented her from seeing the truth.
She was looking for happiness where it could never be found.
At 20, Sarah entered university. It was a dream her mother, Mama Sarah, had made possible by saving every coin she earned in her hair salon.
She rented a small room on campus for her daughter, hoping this new beginning would help her change. But Sarah, still drawn to whatever seemed better, soon found a better option.
She met Sonia, a student who lived in a spacious, comfortable apartment, far nicer than her small room. Sarah decided to move in with her. To win Sonia’s sympathy, she invented a tragic story.
She said she was an orphan, that her parents had died in a car accident.
Touched, Sonia welcomed her warmly, offering her clothes, makeup, and even pocket money. Sarah took advantage of that generosity without hesitation. She borrowed everything she could: colorful scarves, fashionable shoes, shiny jewelry.
Often, she forgot to return those items or claimed she had lost them.
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