Sunday, September 10, 2006
Life is..... like a game of Monopoly
Those of you who are from my era, will definitely have played Monopoly. Heck, it was one of the popular games during my primary school days. And over the years, it has spawned many different versions: the Singapore version, the Star Wars version blah blah. I'm not sure if the younger generation plays it now... but for all you know, they may be playing the electronic version (Gawd... I feel old).
You may think that Monopoly is just a simple board game... but in actual fact, it's not. A selfish game, it actually encourages children to be ruthless. To be competitive. To be the winner: Grab all the properties, the major train stations, the public utilities, do occasional charity (when you have no choice), get thrown into jail a couple of times and wa lah.. instant millionaire! My... we were certainly Bill Gates in the making.....
So why the sudden interest in Monopoly? Well, I was reading a column and it was quite interesting. Let me tell you a story... *ahem*:
The writer, a father of 2 young children, was amused when his children came up to him after school, to tell him of this fantastic game that they played that day. It was called Monopoly. The writer said nothing, and just smiled. Off they went to the toy store to get the Monopoly set and the whole family sat down to play. It wasn't long before the children learnt that their father was very familiar with the game: the writer had all the prime properties, the major train stations and what not. As the game grew on and the children squirmed more in their seats, the writer really monopolized everything. Soon, it was bedtime and the wife tucked the sulky kids in bed while the writer cleared up the game. Needless to say, he was the winner that night. But something struck him as he put everything back in the box. He was left with nothing. Everything he had won, was returned to the box.
We can work extremely hard for this lifetime. We can work till we can't differentiate night from day; we can earn loads of money; we can have the power to make people beckon to our whims and fancies; we can buy whatever we want. But ultimately, remember, at the end of it all, everything goes back to the box. You can't take anything with you. You go back as naked as you came. The physical things remain on earth.
So... why not do some good with it? You can't take it after all. It is on this note that I want to congratulate one of my frens. He did a very noble thing. At his young age, he set up a scholarship. The scholarship is named after his parents and he is parting with a percentage of his monthly pay, to help pay the university fees of one financially struggling student each term.
You might be thinking... cheh.. only one student wat... But fees for each term amount to almost S$5k. There are 3 terms each year. So my fren is parting with close to S$15k each year. It doesn't hurt that he's an investment banker now, but wouldn't you rather spend that money on yourself? He didn't. He choose to do something with it. And I am proud of his generosity. Congrats Darren!
Remember, life is not about the end destination. It's the journey. Quality of life, not quantity of life. Your life is made out of experiences. You can strive for quantity by having the best pay, the swankiest car, the most luxurious condo. But remember, others can surpass you on that, and it's a never ending race. But experiences? They're unique only to you :)
You may think that Monopoly is just a simple board game... but in actual fact, it's not. A selfish game, it actually encourages children to be ruthless. To be competitive. To be the winner: Grab all the properties, the major train stations, the public utilities, do occasional charity (when you have no choice), get thrown into jail a couple of times and wa lah.. instant millionaire! My... we were certainly Bill Gates in the making.....
So why the sudden interest in Monopoly? Well, I was reading a column and it was quite interesting. Let me tell you a story... *ahem*:
The writer, a father of 2 young children, was amused when his children came up to him after school, to tell him of this fantastic game that they played that day. It was called Monopoly. The writer said nothing, and just smiled. Off they went to the toy store to get the Monopoly set and the whole family sat down to play. It wasn't long before the children learnt that their father was very familiar with the game: the writer had all the prime properties, the major train stations and what not. As the game grew on and the children squirmed more in their seats, the writer really monopolized everything. Soon, it was bedtime and the wife tucked the sulky kids in bed while the writer cleared up the game. Needless to say, he was the winner that night. But something struck him as he put everything back in the box. He was left with nothing. Everything he had won, was returned to the box.
We can work extremely hard for this lifetime. We can work till we can't differentiate night from day; we can earn loads of money; we can have the power to make people beckon to our whims and fancies; we can buy whatever we want. But ultimately, remember, at the end of it all, everything goes back to the box. You can't take anything with you. You go back as naked as you came. The physical things remain on earth.
So... why not do some good with it? You can't take it after all. It is on this note that I want to congratulate one of my frens. He did a very noble thing. At his young age, he set up a scholarship. The scholarship is named after his parents and he is parting with a percentage of his monthly pay, to help pay the university fees of one financially struggling student each term.
You might be thinking... cheh.. only one student wat... But fees for each term amount to almost S$5k. There are 3 terms each year. So my fren is parting with close to S$15k each year. It doesn't hurt that he's an investment banker now, but wouldn't you rather spend that money on yourself? He didn't. He choose to do something with it. And I am proud of his generosity. Congrats Darren!
Remember, life is not about the end destination. It's the journey. Quality of life, not quantity of life. Your life is made out of experiences. You can strive for quantity by having the best pay, the swankiest car, the most luxurious condo. But remember, others can surpass you on that, and it's a never ending race. But experiences? They're unique only to you :)
# posted by Xallista @ 1:59 PM 
