Monopoly

I have been thinking about the economy of our consumer culture compared to that popular board game introduced by Parker Brothers. My sister and I certainly spent countless hours of our childhood rolling the dice in pursuit of acquiring railroads, passing "Go" to collect two hundred dollars, and avoiding the luxury tax. But even though we were enraptured in the game while we were playing, I am not sure that our attention spans ever allowed us to play until someone actually won the game. After a while it became tedious, and one if not both of us grew bored beyond the desire to finish. At that point, we would pack it up, and moved on to something else.

In the economy, as in Monopoly, there are those that set their sights on Boardwalk and driven by the lust for vice, power, and control, will stop at nothing to get and remain there. The other players are usually in their debt and at their mercy. Others-who normally reside in Marvin Gardens- "Occupy Park Place"- railing against the inequities of the Boardwalk execs, despite planning their demonstrations using the technology and fueled by the coffee produced by the group against which they are demonstrating. If they don't want a piece of Boardwalk, they certainly don't want to be indebted to it. Yet they enjoy and consume amenities birthed by those corporations, perpetuating the status quo. Still others are a renting a place on Baltic Avenue looking to the lotto- Community Chest- or some other such windfall for help in acquiring what they want. While they may also often possess the lust for the things in the hands of the first group, the game has not been in their favor.

No matter where my sis and I found ourselves in that continuum in any given game, on any given day, of the many games that we shared, one thing was always the same. For me, once that board was folded, and the blue, pink, and green money was rubber banded together and put away, none of it counted. In the end, none of it was legal tender and the little green houses and red hotels were seen for the cheap plastic that they had always been. Outside of the game, none of my temporary acquisitions had any lasting value whether I had been the Scottie, the top hat, the iron, or the shoe.

"Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourself treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Mathew 6:19-21