Which Would You Choose - Gold or Wisdom?

"Hear the wild dogs out there in the night. They howl and wail because they are lean with hunger. Yet feed them, and what do they? Fight and strut. Then fight and strut some more, giving no thought to the morrow that will surely come.

Just so it is with the sons of men. Give them a choice of gold and wisdom - what do they do? Ignore the wisdom and waste the gold. On the morrow they wail because they have no more gold.

Gold is reserved for those who know its laws and abide by them."

Very true indeed. Just like the popular quote by Lao Tzu, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." many a times people would choose to wait for someone to give them the fish, rather than learning how to fish. And when it comes to learning how to fish, people would look for shortcuts, quick fixes to help them achieve their purpose.

The truth is, in real life, wealth just don't come easily. There is no shortcut to creating wealth. Wealth comes from the hard knocks that you've been through and survived. Wealth is the result of your thought process in going through the various challenges to gain the necessary wisdom to acquire it, and the necessary wisdom to retain it.

Just as we thought that the wealthy would easily pass on their assets to their children, some of wisest of the wealthy actually did likewise.

In Babylon it is the custom, as you know, that the sons of wealthy fathers live with their parents in expectation of inheriting the estate. Arkad did not approve of this custom. Therefore, when Nomasir reached the man's estate, he sent for the young man and addressed him:

"My son, it is my desire that thout succeed to my estate. Thou must, however, first prove that thou art capable of wisely handling it. Therefore, I wish that thou go out into the world and show thy ability both to acquire gold and to make thyself respected among men."

I guess the truly wise and wealthy people like Arkad do understand the value of their hard earned money. They would rather see money being put to good use than to be wasted upon by their unwise decendants.

"Ten years from this day come thou back to the house of thy father and give account of thyself. If you prove worthy, I will then make thee the heir of my estate. Otherwise, I will give it to the priests that they may barter for my soul the kind considerations of the gods."