We've seen the complainers for weeks now. They infest selected streets in the US and other major countries around the world. I use the word infest because they are parasites. They add nothing, offer no solutions, and continue to claim they represent 99% of society when, in fact, more than 60% oppose them or are at least ambivalent. They do not "speak" for those they claim to represent, they are a drain on society and public spending, and are frauds.
Rants against OWS are tiring. If I'm going to provide a negative story, I also like to provide a positive. The OWS movement is fraudulent because it focuses on negative things while claiming to be a force for good. Negatives produce strong knee-jerk reactions, which the OWS hopes to provoke. Humans prefer positive stories and these stories have better long term benefits. I have two stories which differentiate most people from the OWS movement, and I know there are many others.
What makes these stories different? The manner in which the people involved sought to get something they wanted. By pursuing a path related to values they considered better than cash, they wound up getting more. Perhaps not as much as the market may have paid them, but more than enough to make it worthwhile.
In our society, if doing something does not provide monetary value, it is either considered 'worthless', or it is put on a pedestal as having 'greater value than money could provide'. If I dig a hole and walk away leaving it empty, it was an inefficient and worthless act. I received no value for it, so why would I do it? I probably wouldn't. Now let's say I've had a bad day at work, and I see my neighbor has tools laid out to build a patio. I walk over, dig out the area to prepare the patio, burn off my frustrations, and still don't get paid. I had selfish reasons for putting in the effort. The work helped me feel better. It does help my neighbor and could be described as altruistic, but I was looking out for myself. I might benefit in other ways, due to my selfish act. He may invite me over for drinks one day, or lend me a hand when I need it.
In baseball, the stories I mentioned were positioned as selfless acts, but in fact were not. Yet both yielded surprising results.
The first occurred in July, when Derek Jeter got his 3,000th hit. A home run. One lucky fan, Christian Lopez, nabbed it and there's no question this ball was a lottery ticket. $250,000 at a minimum. So what does he do? He trades it for signed shirts, signed balls, and a chance to meet Derek Jeter and the Yankees. To Lopez, this is worth more than the money he could have received. The Yankees also gave him a few seats worth about $50,000 (not season tickets, but box seats that have a value of over $10,000 apiece).
Just last night, the St. Louis Cardinals faced elimination twice, in the ninth and tenth innings. One strike away from defeat and the loss of a world title, both times. Never before had a team gotten down to one strike and won a game to avoid elimination in the World Series. Yet win the game they did, on an eleventh inning walk-off home run. Historic. The fan who got the ball, Dave Huyette, chose to trade the ball for boatloads of money, right? No. Recognizing his lottery ticket, Huyette trades the ball for a signed bat, signed ball, and the chance to meet his favorite team. More than money.
Now, Lopez eventually received a terrific payday. After the IRS threatened to tax him on the value of the gifts he received (valued at $70,000), Miller High Life and Modell's Sports stepped up to pay those bills and also offered to pay his student loans. Great gesture, great PR for the companies (so much for greedy, uncaring corporations). Huyette may also get his payday, too. We'll see.
In both cases, these two guys did something we won't see from the OWS movement. Both fans were focused on deriving a positive outcome. They recognized money may be important. They also recognized they could get something worth more than money. As it happens, one did (and the other possibly could) wind up getting a relatively good payoff. But that is tangential to what their very selfish goal was. Just because they didn't walk in demanding a check doesn't mean they were altruistic. To the contrary, they wanted something. You don't have to demand a check to be selfish. They were looking for a win/win outcome.
The OWS movement claims altruism, the wish to help many people in a selfless manner. But they are demanding a blank check at the expense of others they deem unworthy of money they believe is 'society's'. They are hardly selfless and their behavior is remarkably selfish. If either one of the two baseball fans had walked in demanding a blank check, they'd have been called crass, greedy, and manipulative. But because they didn't, they are coming out ahead. Everybody in their situation wins, those with the lottery ticket baseballs, the teams, the players, the Hall of Fame (where each of these balls may wind up), and fans of the game.
I'm not saying we all have to be this way. I wouldn't have held it against either baseball fan if they wanted a check. But both were very shrewd in their way. They knew what was right for them. They also knew if they did what was right for them, they'd get what they wanted and possibly more. In the end, selfish behavior proved to be beneficial by focusing on things which were meaningful to everyone involved.
In Sales, we are taught to leave something for person on the other side of the table. In poker, the winner takes all. In life, you utilize the same bargaining and bluffing skills, but you make sure the other side can at least live with what you propose. The economy is not poker, it's not winner take all as the OWS believes. It's a game where the pie grows, rather than a game where it is only divided.
Our economy will improve if we seek win/win outcomes based on goals promoting the individual's rights, and focus on our individual needs as opposed to goods and services we wish we had as a society. In either case, the financial wherewithal, costs, and viability must be considered as primary.
If you have other stories similar to those I mentioned here, however remotely, they are worth sharing.
Tracked: Oct 29, 09:48