I was very rich once, but walked away a few hours later ... bankrupt! Just as poor as I was when I started the game. This paper dream was fun while it lasted. Monopoly, one of the most popular board games ever invented! Mini capitalism on a board. Big money, buying and selling. Taking advantage of a simple throw of the dice.
Monopoly!
What powers this game is the same thing that powers Capitalism ... greed!
How fun it is to be rich! Filthy rich! Nothing else matters while you're throwing those dice.
Capitalism is a system that works. Capitalism: regulated greed that's open to all ... can't help but be successful; we all are born with what it takes ... greed! The smart energetic person is rewarded ... the dumb and lazy person, well, he loses. It's as simple as that.
The down side of Capitalism, and there is a down side. Capitalism gives us what we need, and that's good, but then Capitalism gives us what we want and that can be bad. What we want is seldom what we need. We want leisure, ease, pleasure, immorality, entertainment; we want what tastes good. We want, and can afford to buy, what makes us weak.
Alas, the better Capitalism works, the more affluent we get, and the more affluent we get, the more decadent we get. Like a pleasurable and slow acting narcotic we succumb to our desires. Weak. Spoiled.
The fatal blow comes when we begin to realize that it was just a card game and paper wealth after all ... and while playing the game we gained nothing and missed everything.
We missed what life was all about.
