rich man

(a parable in four parts, first verse)

i know a rich man who lives in a large and elaborate compound at the center of a village. his home is beautiful and it is filled with many works of art and technological marvels. it is always warm, well-lit and filled with the sound of music and laughter. the kitchen, too, is a marvel; the man and his people have plenty of food and wine with every meal.

oddly, though, the house is surrounded by high, thick walls. there are only a few ways in and each is barred by heavy gates patrolled by large, angry dogs that bark and growl fiercely. you look at all the guards and find it hard to understand why someone with so much would need so many dogs and guards or why he is constantly spending money on alarm systems, bigger, tougher, scarier dogs and the ever growing number of people he hires to watch the village. you might almost imagine that the rich man is trapped in his compound and you might wonder how that could be.

but if you spend a little time watching the rich man you would wonder less and if you lived in his village for a while, well, you wouldn't wonder at all. you see, the rich man gets almost everything he needs from outside his compound. even the money he is using for his new moat and searchlights comes from outside. he heats his house with fuel from the village and his beautiful furniture and jewels are made from trees, gold and diamonds that he gets from there, too. even his food and much of the money that he is using to build his walls and hire his guards comes from the village, too.

now you begin to understand. of course the rich man is afraid. everything he needs to live the way he does comes from outside his compound. he knows that he takes far more than he really needs to have a satisfying life but he so used to living the way that he does that he can't seem to help himself. of course he is afraid; he is completely dependent on the village. he is terrified that someday they will figure out that maybe things don't have to be this way or that he needs them more than they need him.

but the rich man is smart. he figures that if he builds his walls high enough and makes his dogs fierce enough then he will be safe if the people on the outside get angry about the situation. and if he pays just the right people in the village, people that will tell him when the village is angry, he will still have access to all those things he needs, like wood for his stoves and money to pay his guards.

after a while, though, these things don't hold back the rich man's fear. most nights he can't sleep because he dreams that the people in the village have figured out that the rich man is fed and warm and they are hungry and cold. he imagines that the village gets so angry about their poverty and his wealth that it decides to stop lending him money for his walls and dogs. in his dreams, his village spys decide that their community is more valuable than the rich man's bribes and the village decides to keep its food and wood for itself rather than sending it to the gates of the compound.

the rich man can see that the village is getting restless, the villagers are starting to question the order of things. the rich man could cut back on his lovely lifestyle and still have plenty but frankly, he can't see why he should. the village has always supplied my needs, he thinks, and i am damn sure that it keeps doing so or there will be hell to pay. that gives the rich man an idea and so he calls hell and asks for a little help. after a little bargaining he gets it. a little brimstone, a cadre of demons in the square and a couple of days later, the village is a bit worse for the wear - hey, a little collateral damage is to be expected - but not so restless anymore. the rich man thanks the devil for his help, give him a bag of gold and shows him the front gate.

but the devil just smiles. he says, you know, you have such an interesting place here that i have decided to move in for a while. who knows, maybe i'll teach the villagers how to raise a little hell, too.

and now the rich man knows what it is like to be really afraid.

living with rich man: a parable
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tags: politics, greed, security, parable