I have a million dollars. It is a stack of one million dollar bills. They have been donated to me by my brothers. I contribute dollars back where I can. We are a happy brethren. We all have stacks of dollars
Many men have began looking at our stacks. These men are not Brethren.
That was yesterday. Today I get a phone call. It is the one I dreaded. All is not well with my million dollars. One of the dollars is stolen! There can be no mistake I’m told, for the serial number of the bill is proof!
I am guilty and ashamed that I’m party to a theft. Surely I share the blame simply by possessing the dollar. I must make amends! Alarmed, I ask for the evidence.
If one of the dollars is stolen, it makes no great difference to the fortune: The men I love like brothers will surely replenish the dollar in but a moment. We cannot go on with this tainted dollar. It does not belong.
I am a law abiding man. I can’t have this theft of a dollar hanging over me.
There is still a problem. I cannot make amends! The aggrieved man for whom I feel sorry is an avaricious man and has has seen the size of my stack of dollars and he no longer wants just his dollar back.
No, my best beloved, he wants to build his own stack of dollars using my good nature.
This man will not tell me which dollar belongs to him. He gets nasty. He is suing me: I have offered to Help!
In public he has branded me a thief. In private he employs lawyers to do his bidding. He will not give his evidence so I can return his dollar and get on with my life.
Alone his dollar is worthless: Why does he insist it has high value and yet not identify the dollar by number?
Instead this man offers me what he claims is a lifeline: He offers me prosecution immunity. He does this with impunity. He still will not give me the evidence, but he will sell me this immunity for 1000 dollars!
Now I am angry. I see a greedy man hiding behind the law. I look around me and there are millions of my brothers. Each of my brothers has a stack of a million dollars. My brothers are angry and scared too.
Must each of us pay money to the aggrieved man. Can’t we all cast his dollar aside?
This rumination originally appeared @ www.turbotas.co.uk.
Category:
- Open Source
