In the story of the tortoise and the hare,
The tortoise won the race because she consistently worked toward her goal. She didn’t stop for food, or because she was tired, and despite all of the odds against her, she did what nobody excepted and crossed the finish line first.
That is quite a testament to the nature of any being who will set a goal, plot a course and regardless of the obstacles, finishes what they set out to do.
Now what if the turtle had been told at the end of the race that yes she did cross the finish line first, she did win the contest according to the rules. But, her success was tainted by the fact that the poor bunny rabbit was hungry and tired before they started. The bunny didn’t have the energy to finish the race without taking a break.
So to be fair, if she wanted to she could still call herself the winner but if she was really a thoughtful being, she would share the prize with the poor tired bunny rabbit.
This is what is happening in our society today. We all have the ability to set goals, to continue to move through whatever obstacles that get in our way. And believe me, obstacles get in everyone’s way on a regular basis. We are developing a mindset that anyone who overcomes the obstacles and becomes financially successful has somehow received it as a result of an advantage or because they didn’t’ have a disadvantage that someone else has.
I say that is bunch of baloney. This attitude will ultimately destroy us.
Here is a lighthearted example.
Suppose that every week, ten people all meet for lunch. They go to the same place and order the same thing and the bill for all ten comes to $100.
If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this.
The first four (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that’s what they decided to do.
The ten, met every week and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.
“Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your weekly lunch by $20.” Lunch for the group now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes.
So the first four, were unaffected.
They would still eat for free. But what about the other six lunch partners? The paying customers?
How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?’
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth and the sixth person would each end up being paid to eat lunch.
So, the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each person’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so the fifth person, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings)
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 ( 22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to get a free lunch each week. But once outside the restaurant, the lunch partners began to compare their savings.
“I only got a dollar out of the $20,”declared the sixth person.
He pointed to the tenth person,” but he got $10!”
“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth person. “I only saved a Dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!”
“That’s true!!” shouted the seventh. “Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!”
“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four in unison. “We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!”
The nine people surrounded the tenth and told them how greedy he was to take the lions share of the benefit. That if he was a kindhearted person that truly cared about the other people in the group that he would be willing to share in his good fortune. As a matter of fact, it is obvious that the success he had in the past to create his wealth must have been made at the expense of other people too. He must have taken advantage of those people, just like he was now taking advantage of the lunch group.
The next week, the tenth man didn’t show up for lunch. The nine sat down and had their weekly lunch without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
It has been my experience that the people that achieve the most, give the most. If we continue to exploit them, downgrade them and make them feel guilty. They will go away.
They will be fine, but we will be eating alone, with the responsibility of the whole bill our shoulders.
So the next time you meet a successful turtle. Congratulate her and ask her for some secrets of her success.
