TRADING VS. GAMBLING

 

                                      

Folks, go back in time with me to 4000 BC to an African forest where the Grunt family lived.  Grunt had always loved carrots.  He'd been scavenging  for them for years, but finally discovered how to plant them and always have as many as he wanted.

Some distance away in the same forest, but on the other side of the river, lived the Grind family.  Grind loved potatoes. Almost couldn't get enough of them.  He too had been scavenging for them for years, but finally discovered that he could plant them and always have as many as he wanted.

A number of years went by.  The Grunt family got very tired of eating nothing but carrots.  The Grind family got very tired of eating nothing but potatoes.

One day, as both men brought their vegetables down to the river to wash them, they met.  Each looked at the other, then at each other's vegetable in fascination--they had never seen that vegetable before! Curiosity took over big time.  Finally, in a flash of inspiration, Grunt suggested to Grind that if Grind would give him one of his potatoes, he'd give him one of his carrots.  Grind, equally motivated, agreed.  That began a trade between the two men. 

After the exchange of a carrot for a potato, something magical occurred. Both men and their families were better off!  Why?  Their diets improved 100%.  It was a case of one plus one becoming much more than just two! And the friendship that developed between both families was wonderful, each working hand in hand with the other.

Now let's move ahead a couple thousand years.  Lot's of trading had been going on.  The idea and the magic spread.  People's diets and standard of living were constantly improving.

One day a fellow by the name of Grog sat under a tree thinking.  He hated work.  But no one would feed him.  There was no welfare system in those days.  If you weren't willing to work, you weren't going to eat.  A very simple but effective system that motivated productivity. Grog watched as his neighbors exchanged goods and prospered. Greed began to consume him.  He wanted what his neighbors had but there had to be a better way than working to get it.

Then he had a brilliant idea.  He took 5 of his potatoes across the river to his friend Grimm!  I have an idea, he told him.  Go get 5 carrots.  You put your five carrots on this rock and I'll put my five potatoes along side them.  And, see this pebble?  I've scratched an X on one side.  We'll toss it into the air.  If it lands with the X up, I win and take all the carrots and potatoes home.  If it lands with the X down, you take everything home.  We've been a little bored of late.  This will bring excitement into our lives, and the opportunity to win big.  Hey, if we lose, we lose, and we'll play again another day.

Grimm immediately caught on and the deal was struck.  Over time they played.  Sometimes Grimm won, other times Grog won.  There was always a winner and a loser.  And the game became so important that thoughts of working became more and more distant.

 In the minds of each began to germinate another idea.   How to win more times than losing.  And the deceit and deception that came as each tried to accomplish this is a whole 'nother  story.

Honest trade is a win-win situation. In a good trade, both of you come away from the table better off than you were before--that's what you should want to happen so that you promote more trades in the future.  Gambling is a win-lose situation. You're always trying to get the better of the next guy, focused on beating him, and he on you.  Which do you think is a better approach to gaining wealth?