Acquire

I learned how to play Monopoly at the tender age of 8, amid a variety of family members who had spent years playing the game. I guess it was somewhat a rite of passage as I carefully watched and made mental notes. I’ve always been a competitive person and the emergence of monopoly into my life did nothing but add fuel to the fire. We wouldn’t spend hours playing, games usually ranged from 1 -2 hours, with silence during some parts as the competitor in each of us became more and more prevalent.  

I learned early the point of the game was to acquire, by any means necessary. You could wait for things to happen, you know wait for luck to run its course or you could take matters into your own hands by making deals in hopes of bankrupting the other players. I became enamored one summer, spending nearly every day with my brothers or cousins at the monopoly board, as video games weren’t really something you could touch. You get your properties, trade for monopolies and begin to build an empire. I would have entire sides under my control, laughing at my opponents as I cruised to victory.

But as I got older and more knowledgeable of how life interconnects itself to everything we do, I realized that there would always come a point when the pieces would go back into the box. There would be a point when all the properties and hotels would mean nothing as they would all go right back into the reservoir to be used by someone else.  

I look at people with insane amounts of money and always wonder how they could ever think of spending all the money they have, because some of them just have too much money. And then I began to think about where the money goes when their lives come to an end, especially if there is no one to inherit the money.

I realized once the game is over, the money goes right back into the box. Having tons of money is a great thing, but eventually the game will end. Life is much more than a game, obviously, but while living this life the actions and impact one can make truly shapes that they are and how they lived. I know its easy for a person outside of the financial elite to say, “make sure to give your money away, wealthy people,” but “the game,” as it always does will eventually en, what matters most is how we play it.