A parable is defined as a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth or moral lesson. Today I've decided to write a nice little parable.
There is a woman. Let's call her Billie. Billie works hard, saves money and is quite successful. After years of working and saving and success, she ends up with a nest egg of a million dollars.
Billie meets an out-going, gregarious man who is the kind of guy you'd just like to sit down and have a beer with. Let's call him Georgie. They marry. Now that Georgie has access to Billie's savings, he traipses on down to the neighborhood bank and borrows a fist-load of money, using his wife's nest egg as collateral. What is Georgie going to do with all of that borrowed money?
Good old Georgie hands the money out to his friends of course - after all, they are the people that introduced him to the rich woman - he figures he owe's them, right? There's more than enough to go around. The guys have a great time with the money. They do a guys weekend to Vegas. They buy cars, boats, motorcycles, toys, toys and more toys, all kinds of useless, unneeded stuff.
A short time later Georgie realizes that his friends have blown through their windfall. Since he's such a great guy, he runs on down to the neighborhood bank and borrows even more. Once again, he hands it out to all of his buddies. Several years pass and he suddenly comes to the realization that he's spent his wife's entire fortune. The cost of making payments on the loans, with accrued interest, have bankrupted the couple. Not only is there nothing left, there's a mountain of debt.
What does Georgiie do? He walks. Hey, he's put in his time. It's not his problem any more. Let someone else figure out how to solve the problem. It was fun while it lasted!
A couple of years later a friend of Billie's runs into Georgie and scolds him for his irresponsible spending. What is Georgie's response? "Oh come on! I'm not even involved anymore," Georgie whines. "If she can't dig out from under the debt, that's not my fault is it? Let's just hope the bank doesn't agree to lend her even more. Can you imagine how she'd spend that? She'd probably just use it to pay for my fun."
Sound familiar?
A couple of years later a friend of Billie's runs into Georgie and scolds him for his irresponsible spending. What is Georgie's response? "Oh come on! I'm not even involved anymore," Georgie whines. "If she can't dig out from under the debt, that's not my fault is it? Let's just hope the bank doesn't agree to lend her even more. Can you imagine how she'd spend that? She'd probably just use it to pay for my fun."
Sound familiar?
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