Life's Game of Greed
When I was a toddler, I read a story about three thieves who returned from a successful robbery, but before they shared the money, they decided to relax and eat some food, so they asked one of them to go get some food, and while he was gone, the other two criminals plotted to kill him and keep the money for themselves.
Now, in their minds, they both planned to kill each other so that one could get the money. However, this thought process was internal and was only revealed to the readers.
An even bigger twist occurs when the person who went to buy the food devises a plan to poison the other two thieves. Now, he returns from buying the food, and they immediately kill him. They then settle to eat the food, but they both die immediately after eating it, leaving the wealth without an owner.
Money $ Trust
Growing up, I watched a lot of MEXICAN drug movies, and one of the most common themes in these shows is loyalty and betrayal. Why?
Obviously, drugs are a dangerous criminal game that requires a small cabal of people who believe in themselves until one person snitches and gives the police some information in exchange for a short prison sentence.
This is why drug organizations prefer to keep their ring small; they are constantly wary of who they can and cannot trust. Why? Because this is the foundation for criminal organizations' success. They must maintain a ring in which people work together, trust themselves, and even have loyalties that lead them to choose prison over revealing who their ring members are when apprehended.
When you look at the history of drug lords who have been killed or apprehended, it usually only takes one of their insiders to slip away, leak vital information, and everything is over.
When you put things into perspective, you will notice that good or bad cannot thrive unless people decide to flip the switch and become greedy and disloyal.
Sadly, this is how life is; you never know who people are, especially when it comes to money. However, people cannot live alone, nor can we conduct business alone; we must trust colleagues to keep their end of the bargain, we must trust employers to pay at the end of the job, and employers must trust their employees to do an excellent job for the money they will earn, and when trust is broken, especially due to greed and selfishness, trust and loyalty become one of the rarest traits you will ever find.
Why is this so? These two traits are always put to the test, especially when it comes to freedom and money. Obviously, money is one of the most difficult commodities to test people's loyalty with; 90% of people fail, and while some fail because they are tempted with what they require to survive, others fall because of greed.
Some of the most difficult loyalty failures come from people you trust, and because they know you trust them, they always hope you do not find out about their disloyalty, because they know it will be very bad if you do. Now, even though they hope you don't, they will continue to be disloyal even though they know they shouldn't, until maybe you wake up and find out someday.
As I previously stated, greed is the primary motivator for disloyalty. People find someone trustworthy, someone who values loyalty, and instead of putting an end to any disloyal tendencies they have, they take advantage of those who are loyal to them.
The most terrifying type of backstabbing is one in which several people plan to snitch on themselves. It reminds me of a story in which everyone in a village was supposed to pour a bottle of wine into the village's cauldron so they could all feast. One of the villagers reasoned, why not just bring a bottle of water?
After all, everyone will be pouring wine into the cauldron, and no one will notice if a bottle of water is poured in: plot twist, everyone had the same thought and ended up bringing water instead.
People can be creatively cunning and devious, which can easily lead to greed.
It is difficult to remain critical and suspicious of others, but it is the only way you will avoid being caught off guard. We cannot live without trusting people; in fact, trust may be the foundation of our survival; however, when we are betrayed by greedy people, it becomes disastrous. The rule of thumb should be that 99% of people are potential betrayers unless they have repeatedly demonstrated that they are not.
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I never heard the 3 robbers story, but it's a good one! Thanks for sharing...
And regarding the rest, it is all about the trust, and we come back to crypto, one of the crucial things why I got attracted to it is exactly that! It removes the middle man, and the potential trust issues...
Greed and temptation can come out of nowhere when we least expect them!
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Thank you. I heard the three thieves story when I was maybe 10 or 11 and it's probably one of the most relatable life stories. I've been betrayed countless times in the past by people I've been in business with, and trusted. When it comes to money, people tend to escalate quickly, and you'll get to see different awkward attitudes.
With crypto, you're right, it just removes the middleman and you don't have to go through the face of thinking "what if I can't trust them"
You're right, most of the times when I've been betrayed, it happened unexpectedly and I was hurt.
Thanks a million for the curation
It’s scary how fast people switch up when they see an opportunity, even more so when it’s someone you’ve been solid with for a long time. That’s what stings the most..... not just the betrayal, but the fact that they knew you wouldn’t do the same.
At the end of the day, like you said, we can't do life completely alone.... we have to somehow trust people. But the key is to pay attention to actions over time, not just words. Loyalty is proven when it's inconvenient. And sadly, most people don't pass that test. A very insightful one again.... Dealing with alot offline so hardly get the time to read lately. Wishing you a beautiful new week 🤗
Sometimes I prefer to do life alone, and choose just God. I've been kicked in the butt too many times. The feeling doesn't get better, and humans can be creatively greed.
I don't want to have to trust people, because when I do, I'm all in. However after all the experiences I've had in life, I've met more betrayers and landed in situation I wouldn't want to.
It's okay, everyone is hooked to life nowadays.
I respect that “just God” mindset, fr. At least with Him, you know you're not getting played. It’s sad that life teaches us these lessons the hard way, but it also sharpens our discernment
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The three thieves story is a really good one and does reveal how slippery trust can be even amongst comrades! It's really a dilemma to balance trust while also keeping an eye open for cracks that eventually break the bond. If money is put into the equation, loyalty is quite cheap to purchase. And we sadly can't scold people for choosing survival over maintaining a highly esteemed human quality.
I read about the three thieves story when I was a kid, and over 20 years later, it still remains relevant. It seems like humans will be human, and time and evolution cannot fix things like disloyalty and greed. However, I think people owe it to their partners, comrades, business people to be loyal. It just gives you this cutting edge value when you're loyal
Yes, easy to stand out when you're loyal in this day and age. It could be a form of leverage too.
When money is involved, true colors of so called friends comes out, greed is just a negative trait that has ruined lives today, the story of the three armed robbers are not just mere stories, they happen today, greed lead people to betray and even take lives of their friends just to have it all to themselves.
You're right, greed just makes the attitude of people show up. I read about the three thieves story as a child, and till today it's relevant, we see people who are ready to do unbelievable things because of greed.
Greed is the reason why you see some helpers kill the owner of the business and run away with his money.
Greed is bad
It's tough when money is involved. Sometimes people are more than willing to way further because of it. The robber story just shows just how bad trust is when it comes to illegal activities. I wouldn't want to live that type of life.
This is the life of thieves and drug lords, they're constantly scared of being betrayed and snitched on. No one deserves that life, there's truly no peace in such lives
money is the root of all sins, there are people who would sell their parents for money
it is indeed true find trustworthy persons, and yet you will never know what's in their deep mind
Haha, truly some people can do anything for money. I recently learned another loyalty lesson, and how greed can make people lose out on the long-term, simply because they want to greedy
There can be no honour among thieves.
No honour at all, you're right
Money money money. Money makes the world go round, they say. That's quite true because money is needed to put things in place.
One thing I've realized in this life is that you can only know one who is greedy when you test them with anything that concerns money. They'll fall head It's really disappointing that there are
some individuals who can't ever be trusted with money.
Hahaha. I have just recently met a chronic gambler, and their gambling made me scared that they'll be greedy, and it turns out I was right. One thing is that greedy people cannot be trusted, with money they can sell or do unthinkable things to you. There are just way lesser loyal people in the world
Gamblers and greed are like 5&6. You need a long spoon when going to a feast with such individuals.
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STOPI never heard this story before and this gives a beautiful message. Too much greedy would kill a friend or anyone but it would also hurt the killer.
Great post! The sad truth is that human nature is one of greed, because it was needed for survival in our ancestors. You have to be very careful about who you trust with money, because most people are greedy and looking to take away some of your money. Governments are among the biggest and greediest people around...
Unless someone has proven trustworthy repeatedly it's best not to trust them with money, I agree. That temptation can prove too great for most people.
That first little story just goes to show you that there is no honor among thieves!
Funny how human tendencies will always creep in no matter what, trust us a rare commodity that's why it most be earned rather than demanded, if that order is thwarted some something will definitely go wrong....
The last story just got me laughing... it goes to show how that for fact that some choose to stay loyal n true doesn't mean that they didn't have that negative thought in them ....