Ethical Dilemma

Saturday night I discovered a very disconcerting aspect of my life. I got the opportunity to be a capitalistic pig … and I liked it! I mean, it really felt good.

Of course, there is a saving grace to the potential of me slipping down this pathway. My capitalistic urges tend to have been limited to the game of Monopoly.

This all happened after Jonas’s birthday gathering. After making the trek back north, Bobby, Ian, Layton, Chris and I returned home to consume some hot buttered rum (courtesy of Layton’s culinary talents). We then decided that the night was young, and a game or two was in order, and given the recent Diane Rehm show on the history of Monopoly, we all agreed it would be fun to give that a try.

Early on in the game, it appeared that Bobby was going to be leading the way to an early victory (he was the first to acquire a monopoly of properties, and started building houses and then hotels). Of course, as we all know in the game of Monopoly, those that rise, sometimes fall, and this was the case. Towards the end of the game, Chris, Layton and Bobby had all been bankrupted, and it was down to Ian and I. Ian had hotels on the yellow properties, and I had got hotels on the light blue and dark blue properties.

For a short time, we exchanged large amounts of rent with each other, however my greed was nourished when Ian landed on Park Place (for a nice rental amount of $1500) and the rolled snake-eyes (two ones) and landed on Boardwalk (for a lovely rental amount of $2000). With the hotels firmly in place, Ian checked out, and I salivated at my victory (I may have even yelled a “woo hoo”).

Then I felt dirty.

Update: I failed to mention that I think I ended the game with more money than the bank!

2nd Update: I found this entry I made last year that justifies my disgust in myself.