People’s Currency

Relational poverty, the lack of genuine connections with those in our circles that has a direct bearing on our development, is spiritually and socially recognised. 

The importance of friendships and relationships is set forth in Proverbs 27:17, thus: “You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another.”

We were created as relational beings.

However, relationships are not easy endeavours and as human as we are, when we engage (with our varied weaknesses and strengths), there is bound to be friction, like the friction that results from sharpening knives (iron) with steel (iron).

Thus, God recognises both the burden and the relief (joys) of genuine relationships and made them foundational to our personal growth and development.

People’s Currency, by Charles Sam, is, thus, about the burdens (of bad relationships) and joys (of good relationships) and how to navigate those cumbersome processes.

“Your relationships are the most important part of your life, yet they are the part most people handle with the least care,” he states, laying the premise for his work.

Book

In 12 chapters, Charles Sam takes readers through topics, such as, When People Leave; The Art of Letting Go; Who You Should Never Let Go; Art of Letting Go; How to Choose Your Circle Wisely; How to Be a Good Friend; and Building Relationships with High Profile People.

He starts with a description of the patterns of relationships and how some last and some fade with time.

The book recognises that relationships fade sometimes, not because of some fault on the part of the parties, but sometimes because one gets to a new stage in life, a new phase or season, where there is no room for that relationship.

The author uses the Pilgrim’s Progress to show that on life’s journey, one would meet several people along the way, some would stay briefly, some others for some time and others for a very long time, only to fade away later.

By divine design, people were not made to engage eternally. Indeed, by Psalm 90:10, “The days of our years [are] threescore years and ten…”

Human life is short, and thus engagements cannot be eternal. 

Some circumstances and situations of life cause relationships to fall apart.

The key, Charles Sam seems to say, is to recognise when the relationship is no longer sustainable and let go. 

Great relationships are all about mutually respecting and valuing people; however, if those two ingredients aren’t found in a relationship, then one ought to let go!
Relationships get stunted when one of the parties grows, and the author admonishes readers to have the wisdom to let go of such relationships at those times.

“Growth will always require a level of separation, and not everyone is meant to go with you into every season of your life,” he says.

However, there are some friendships to be protected; these are the friendships with people who support you without jealousy, as well as those who protect your name and image when you are not around.

There is a way and manner of letting go of bad relationships, and the author says that sometimes letting go would involve managing one’s emotions as well, with prescriptions for doing that.

Choosing friends is not a happenstance.

Charles Sam proposes an intentionality in choosing friends for the mutual growth of all in the relationship.

Friendships are communal affairs, and to have good friendships, one ought to be a good one himself or herself; the key ingredients to be a good friend are loyalty, value, kindness and consistency.

An interesting prescription is the one on Building Relationships with High Profile People.

There, Charles Sam teaches the principle of honour.

The high profile is those ahead of us in terms of social status, material resources and their network. 

The author proposes a mindset change to tap into such relationships.

Instead of asking such people for money, jobs and social or other material things, one ought to think about how to be helpful to them.

Positioning oneself in that manner paves the way for fruitful engagements with the influential.

The principle of honour dictates giving value and getting value back.

Charles Sam writes with clarity on an area that most people take for granted.

The People’s Currency can be bought online.