The Joke Is On Us

Shared this story and reflection with my family last night. A man with nothing to do in an afternoon suddenly remember that someone across town owe him $2. He spent $6 round trip transportation cost empty handed with his debtor not home. My boys immediately found this illogical for someone to spent $6 to recover $2. There is something wrong with this guy. He must be stupid or something. Indeed, this does not make sense. Anyone with grade level education can figure this out. However, in real life, we fall into this kind of illogical traps many times. Most things in life cannot be easily expressed in absolute dollars amount for it's cause and benefit. It takes wisdom to look deep.

Here is an example. In a congested traffic, someone switched lane every few seconds to get to the lane that seem to go faster. At the end, he is probably 100 feet or so ahead due to his cleverness. Is it worth it? He may think, I am spending my time driving anyway, why not get ahead even by 100 feet. Has he consider that do so may increase the chance of accident, not to mention the certain increase in fuel cost? Do you think he spent $6 to recover $2 in this case? I think so.

There is a saying in Chinese "Man live to Eat". As if the main if not the sole purpose of a man's life is to eat all the good food in this world. After all, we only live once why not treat ourselves the best the world has to offer, pork chop, giant lobster, roasted duck, ... The benefit is the few minutes of our taste buds sensation. It sure feels satisfying for that 15 or so minutes. What is the cost? Well, I can afford it with my salary, no problem. Really? What about the hidden cost to your health? The obesity, the high blood pressure, heart disease and etc. Does it worth to have open heart pass-by surgery for satisfying your taste buds? I have no doubt there will be die-hard food lovers that will say yes. But, view the video of the surgery and what it does to your body may change your mind. Animals have to die for us to satisfy our taste buds. My boys recognized that this create bad karma. In one way or the other, we are going to pay for it with interest. Go look at the slaughter house, try to do it yourself, will you still insist on feasting on the animals? The cost of raising those animals consume so much food resources as feeds that could otherwise use to feed hungry people. Are we seeing those hidden costs? Are we spending $1000 to get $2 here?

The joke is really on us.