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I Believe in Capra
by Forrest D. Poston
In a fit of idealism and civic duty, I spent a
week at a leadership camp during the summer after my
sophomore year of high school. Many decades later, I’m
surely more jaded and somewhat less naive, even if I can’t
quite shake the idealism, but some experiences from that
week have endured and remain meaningful beyond mere
nostalgia. One applies too well once again.
In our groups of six or so, we played a variety of games
intended to make a point. One of those involved each
member secretly picking either “x” or “y” (and no, it had
nothing to do with chromosomes). A chart showed
winnings or losses based on how many people picked which
letter, and we all saw the chart ahead of time.
There were a few ways for several people to win a high
number of points while others lost and one way to win a huge
number of points while every other person lost big.
And if you looked carefully, there was also one way that
every person could win some points with no one losing.
Keep in mind that these points had no actual value.
You couldn’t turn the points in later for even so much as a
cheap stuffed animal. No one was even keeping score
except for anyone keeping track in their head. We
could talk things over before making our secret selections,
and we could make agreements.
Once we saw the option that allowed everyone some gain, we
agreed that we’d all make that selection and marked down our
choices. As you might guess, if only one person
decided to renege on the deal and pick the other letter,
that person would win the biggest number of points
possible. Every other person would lose. Seemed
pretty clear what we should do, but my expectations weren’t
exactly high. I was naive, not newborn.
When all the choices were revealed, we had all kept our
agreement, all won. Seems perfectly reasonable.
We were also the only group there that did it. In
every other group, at least one person went for the big
personal victory at the expense of everyone else. They
had nothing tangible to gain or lose, and yet greed still
won out. No one was trying to build a business or feed their
family. We're competitive creatures, and that's good,
but we're also greedy creatures, and that's a pretty big
weakness.
Now you know why gas prices are so high and why a lot of
other things are messed up. Being greedy doesn't make anyone
the alpha, and having more money doesn't make a person
better. Being greedy simply means you're too weak to
control your urges, too blind to see beyond yourself, or
both. No, I’m not promoting communism, socialism, or any
other social, political or economic system. All I’m
promoting is common sense, decency, and, as Jimmy Stewart
put it in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, “a little looking
out for the other guy.”
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Other Essays and Poetry
Something
Somewhat
Vaguely
Like a Resume
Being
Like
Children
Beyond
the Genes (Dad)
The
Blessing and the Blues
Bookin' Down Brown Street
The
Cat With a Bucket List
David
and the Revelation
The
Dawn, the Dark, and the Horse I Didn't Ride In On (an
odd, meandering, semi-romantic story)
Getting
a Clue
Ghost
Dancer
in the Twilight Zone
The
Hair Connection and the Nature of Choices
The Mug,
the Magic, and the Mistake
Sadie
on the Bridge
Trumpet
Player,
USDA Approved
Videos
Poetry
Selected
Poems
The
Poetry
Process
Writing by Current or Former Students
Ms.
Write Meets Her Match in Jr. Ms. Write Now
by Heide Perry
I'll
Just
Have Cats
by Cara Hummel
Toys
to
Toys
by Allyson Bowlds
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