The Parable of the Pond
We live in a world driven by debt. While debt has enabled development all over the world, there is a downside, especially when we see how young people have grown up taking debt for granted and become its slaves for a lifetime. How can we discourage this?
A simple analogy explains a basic economic principle about the dangers of debt in a way that you can even explain to your very young children. After all, if they are to avoid the debt trap that so many grow into by the end of their teens (one which sets many of them into lifelong debt slavery) then NOW is the time to teach this lesson to them.
You can explain it this way, using just one resource (water) to illustrate the point!
The Parable of the Pond
There was once a village where a large pond of water was sufficient to provide the daily needs of the people. A fresh cool stream of pure water also flowed into the pond and kept it full. For as long as people could remember, the pond never dried up.
The village people were grateful for the pond and would never pollute it with rubbish. Each person was responsible for ensuring that the pond and stream remained clean. Everyone in the village was required to draw a bucket of water from the pond every day, which was all that they needed. They also had to work in their field and earn a “daily water ticket” which was to be used to exchange for the bucket of water.
At this rate of use, there is still enough water flowing into the pond from the stream for everyone to buy their daily bucket of water, and enough water remained for the fields which were abundant with food from everyone's daily work.
But then something happened…!
A greedy man called “Lenny the Lender” with lots of money came into the village and said to the people: “There is plenty of water available in your pond. Why should you have to wait until you work all day, just to get one bucket of water?
I will lend you money, as much as you want, to buy as much water as you want NOW instead of just having to wait until you work for it each day. However, you must pay the money back to me - at least just a little bit each month and pay me just a little more each month in return for the use of my money. You can have all this money NOW and have all of the water you want NOW…isn’t that wonderful…?”
So many of the people listened to Lenny – they thought “yes – why should we have to toil all day for a bucket of water when we can have all we want NOW and not have to work for it?”
So they took his money and bought many water tickets.
Everyone rushed to get as much water as they could possibly carry each day, even more than they would ever need, and much of it was spilled on the ground and wasted, but they enjoyed all of the water and thought it was wonderful.
But something went wrong.
Some people noticed that the pond of water was falling so they searched and found that the stream which was feeding the pond could not supply enough water to keep the pond full because the people were now taking out more water than the stream could flow into the pond.
Its level dropped down to just two thirds full, then half then one third, so people rushed to borrow more money from Lenny the Lender to buy many more water tickets and they then rushed to get more and more water before the pond ran dry.
Then, as the pond started to dry up, the people took water from the stream that fed the pond and very soon, it stopped running altogether.
But there was still another problem.
Many of the people who borrowed money from Lenny the Lender found that because they were too busy trying to get the rest of the water, they did not have time to work in the field, while others became too lazy, thinking that Lenny would give them more money.
The fields also stopped growing food, because not enough people were working in them. Now because many people had not worked, they not only had no food, they could not pay back the money they owed Lenny, so they owed him more and more money. Others had to work more and more just to pay back some of the money, but the debt increased.
Meanwhile, all of the water they bought with the money Lenny loaned to them was wasted and they had no more money to buy more water, and there was no more water left, so they got very thirsty, and their children cried from extreme hunger. All of this was because they had wasted the water and had not worked to produce enough food.
Lenny the Lender was then very angry and demanded that they pay it back or he would take away anything they had, including any water they still had, and they would have to be his slaves until they paid back all the money. But many of the people could not earn enough and became Lenny’s slaves for many, many years, and even for all of their lifetime and greatly regretted the day they borrowed from Lenny the Lender.
There are big lessons to learn here.!
The stream that feeds the pond of water is what naturally refills (regenerates) the pond. If the stream dries up, so will the pond. The pond represents all of the natural wealth that the earth has. (The, land, the rivers, the oceans, the forests, rain, fresh water, clean air and seed and the seasons which come and go and grow the food.)
If these things are used up or destroyed then we have nothing to make or grow things we need to live, including food, and there will be no clean fresh water to drink.
If we borrow money from Lenny, so that we can have more and more of these things now, far more than the earth can naturally afford to give to us now, the earth will not be able to keep up supply and there will be nothing left for future generations.
We need to cherish water as our most valued resource and manage supply of clean water for the future. Without clean water, we cannot live. If not, there will come a time when a bucket of water will be more precious than a bucket of gold.
Money is NOT the earth’s real wealth. Money is only a “token or symbol” that people use to trade the earth’s natural wealth in the form of goods and labor. We can print more and more money and give it to people to spend, but if we destroy all the earth’s natural wealth this way, no amount of money can bring it back – there will be nothing to buy with that money, and what we can buy will be so expensive that nobody can afford it.
Imagine what would happen if everyone was given as much money as they want and did not have to work for it! What would happen? All the earth’s resources would be used up, as people scrambled to buy as much as they could because they had unlimited money.
But then, nobody would work and there would soon be no food, and people would realize, far too late, that they can’t eat or drink money. The forests, the fish in the seas would be gone and the clean air would be polluted and there would no clean water to drink or food to eat.
So how can we avoid such a disaster so that the “creek and the Pond” don’t dry up?
We must understand that when you work to earn your money, you are giving labour in return for it.
Therefore, the amount of money you can spend is controlled by how much you work and earn, and this ensures that the earth’s precious resources are not all used up at once with money that is not earned. This way, people who live in the future will also have what they need.
So, the most important lesson of all is that your future, and that of your family and friends in your own community, depends on understanding the lesson of Lenny the Lender.
Surely, if we want the earth to remain a wonderful place that provides all of the things we need to live, including clean water to drink, water for the garden and water for your bath, then we must value and respect our natural world and always avoid Lenny the Lender, work hard, save your money and spend it on things that will provide for you and your family.
Oh..! and remember one more thing!
When you buy all of those things to eat and drink, NEVER just throw the packets and cans and bottles on the ground. This makes the earth ugly and destroys its beauty and pollutes the streams, lakes and oceans.
Love the earth and all that it provides, and it will always be there for you.
Well, let’s start to grow a mutually beneficial relationship. Discover so much you never knew about your own community - including the Natural Science for Smaller Community Social, Economic and Environmental Regeneration.
Thank you for reading
