Dinner with Mansa Musa. by Jordan

Dinner with Mansa Musa. by Jordan - February 2016 Scholarship Essay

People tend to say money makes a man loose his morals, but there is one person I know of where this is simply not true. Mansa Musa, the richest person to ever live, was a kind, gracious person from what I can analyze. Being a person who loves to study history, I have had the great opportunity to take several African American history courses. I've also taken various courses in different historic topics and have had many professors with different views on subjects, but they all come to the same conclusion for the person I would choose to have a stimulating conversation with. During my first African American history course I learned about many successful African empires like Mali and Ghana. The one thing I learned that truly stuck with me throughout my classes was the king of Ancient Mali who reigned after his grandfather Sundiata. This was Mansa Musa, the conversation would lean towards wanting to know his thought process towards giving away his 400 billion dollar fortune.
I think Musa was brilliant; on his pilgrimage to the Holy City of Mecca, he paraded through the streets throwing gold at people he did not even know. Musa was a giver, building new Mosques' all while directly controlling the worth of gold. This is a feat no other person has been able to do. I would love to have a conversation about his tactics as king, because he differs from others in so many ways. Having an open mind allows me to be able to want to meet people of this type of power, I want to find out everything about Mansa Musa that researchers fail to do.
I can imagine sitting down for tea with the king and having a conversation about the economic state of the Mali empire. He would tell me that things are doing just wonderful and how he is essentially out of money, but why that is okay for him. I would expect him to say something something very selfless, but always expect the unexpected. I feel that Musa is the type of person who only sees gold as a brick, or a dollar as a piece of paper, but also a tool that can help the poor. While sipping the tea, he would have gracious servants telling me how amazing the pilgrimage to Mecca was to see thousands of people carry gold, and even more people receive gold. One thing that ceases to amaze me is how selfless the richest man ever was. That is a quality I would like to instill in myself.