Everything

Once, in a faraway land, there lived a businessman. He owned more gold, property, and materials than anybody else in the country, and because he had everything he needed, he didn’t bother to talk to anybody else. But he was human, and like all humans, he craved more.

He mechanized his business to gain more gold, and as his coffers grew, the coffers of others dwindled, because there was only so much gold in the land. He pursued his goal with abandon, and as cruel as his acts were, he could not be stopped, for his acts were permitted by law.

There came a day, then, when he had all of the gold in the land, and nobody else had any. Happy as a lark, he gloated over his wealth, but the people were incensed, for they had no money. So they turned to him and said, “You may have all of the gold, but we have all of the wood chips. We will use wood chips from now on, wood chips will be our money, and you shall have none!”

And so the people began using wood chips for money. They continued to live and work as usual, and the businessman had no part in it. Now in his anger, he gathered all of the wood chips in the land, again unable to be stopped. He then said to the people, “I have your wood chips! You cannot do anything to me now! And I shall once again be superior to you!”

But the people squared their shoulders and said, “You may have the wood chips, but we have all of the apples and oranges and lemons and limes and berries and grapes, and we shall share them between ourselves, and you shall have none!”

Now again the businessman was scorned. Unwilling to be left out, he went around the land and took all of the apples and oranges and lemons and limes and berries and grapes. But the people were not moved: “You have the apples and oranges and lemons and limes and berries and grapes, but we have the bushes and trees and vines on which they grow! You have our food, but we have their source, and we can feed ourselves!”

When he took them too, they said, “You have the bushes and trees and vines, but we have the water and the soil and the sunlight they grow on!”

And the businessman took control of the water and the soil, but he could not take control of the sunlight. The people laughed at him. “Sunlight cannot be taken!” they cried. But the mood of the people then grew somber, and they spoke to him, “All we have now are sunlight, and hollow homes. What kind of lives can we lead if we have naught but spaces and can fill them only with sunlight that cannot be used, except but to witness this emptiness?!”

But the businessman did not listen, for he had everything he wanted. And so the people, with nowhere to go, all soon died, leaving only their hollow homes behind.

And yet things did not fare well for the businessman. He had the gold and the wood chips, but nothing to use them for. He had the apples and oranges and lemons and limes and berries and grapes, but he could only eat so much, and they all rotted away in time. He had the bushes and the trees and the vines, but they only bore fruit once a year, and they wilted as well. He had the water and the soil, but he could not manage them by himself, and so they ran dry. He had the sunlight, which everyone else once had too, and by that he was allowed to witness his suffering.

And very soon, he died too, and with nobody to live there, the land went to rot.