The boy who invented poverty

When we allow a handful of people to take control of our natural resources in the name of development, we create poverty. Our natural resources belong to everyone.

Long ago, before there were rich and poor, there used to be a village in the dessert. There wouldn’t have been any people alive if there weren’t the magical tree. The lone tree, in the middle of the dessert, which bore fruits every night.

The old villagers used to tell a story that the tree was thousands of years old and so was the village. The god had created the tree for the villagers and for thousands of years the tree bore one fruit each for every villager every night. It was said that the magic will disappear if any villager visited the tree in the night and hence no villager went near the tree before dawn.

The village had a rule, that each and every villager will take only one fruit from the tree when they visit the tree in the morning. Nobody ever broke the rule, punishment was being abandoned in the dessert. But no one was really watching, villagers knew that no one was stealing because at the end of the day everyone got a fruit.

All the villagers, young or old, visited the tree every morning to pick up their fruit. So did the young boy. One of these days, he got late and he found that there were only two fruits on the tree. He thought to himself, “May be I am the last one and this fruit is extra. May be the extra fruits disappear and nobody notices. Let me wait for some time and if nobody comes, I can have the extra fruit.” He waited and nobody came. So he picked the fruit and started walking back home. There he saw an old man, walking slowly towards the tree.

The boy realised his folly and he knew what would happen next. He intercepted the old man and said, “Why! I waited for you for such a long time, I was afraid that you wouldn’t be able to come today! So I thought I will bring your fruit to you”. The old man thanked the kid and said,

“That’s so nice of you. The everyday walk to the tree is becoming impossible for me.”

“May be I can deliver your fruit to you everyday?”

“Is that possible? Why would you do that?”

“It is no extra effort for me, really.”

“Okay then.”

The boy just saved his own life and well, it wasn’t really any extra effort. And so the boy started delivering the fruit to the old man everyday. When the boy started picking two fruits from the tree, people were bound to notice. But getting caught and survived once, the boy knew how to get out of the tough situation. He would narrate the story and will offer his service. For anyone, it was an offer too good to refuse and the list of people boy serviced increased on and on.

Soon enough, it was an effort. And also a common place knowledge that the boy delivered the fruit for those who found it tough to visit the tree everyday. People didn’t mind anymore when they saw him carrying a large sack full of fruits. But the boy did. He did so much extra effort, for what purpose?

He had had enough. He deserved a payment for his efforts. If the villagers won’t pay then he will get his payment from elsewhere. He decided to steal a fruit from the tree. And if he got caught then he will just say that he miscounted and if people didn’t trust him they can get their own fruits from the next day.

What hadn’t happened ever in the village, finally happened. Someone didn’t get a fruit. The man was angry and furious. He ran to the village shouting, “Someone stole my fruit. Someone stole my fruit”.

The villagers held a meeting. And everyone said they got only one fruit. The boy was questioned too. He decided to take his chance. He said,

“I have been delivering fruits to everyone for days. If I were stealing fruits then someone would have complained. If you people don’t trust me, I will stop delivering the fruits.”

He had taken a risk, he knew. But what happened next was something that he didn’t expect. The villagers for whom he delivered the fruits started arguing on his behalf. The older men led the charge. Those who didn’t use his services were grilled, their houses searched. In the end, someone suggested may be the tree had stopped bearing enough fruits.

“But it has never happened in thousands of years.”

“But never had there been a theft either. If no one stole the fruit then where did it disappear”, came the counter argument.

“May be the fruits disappear after some time. May be you went too late”, said another.

“But what now? What about the man who didn’t receive the fruit?”, asked an old man.

“May be we shall all share a sliver of our fruit with him.”, suggested someone.

“But why shall we?”, asked another.

“As a payment for delivery.”, suggested the boy.

“It is too much of an effort and I could really use some help. Whoever doesn’t get the fruit can help me distribute the fruits and in return get a sliver of fruit from each villager who gets the delivery”, he continued.

With some gasps and heaves, villagers agreed.

One would expect this will lead to villagers refusing to use the boy’s services and instead pick their own fruits. But reverse happened. Once people realised that there was a risk that they might end up without a fruit, more and more people started subscribing to the service. This meant more efforts. But the boy knew how to get more employees. He will just make another fruit disappear.

And every time a fruit disappeared, the cost of service increased a little. After all, there were more mouths to feed.

And soon, there were 3 types of people in a village where everyone used to be equal. The boy who owned the tree and grew fatter by the day, the villagers who used the boy’s service and grew thinner by the day and the poor ones who toiled everyday and lived at the mercy of the boy.

Thousands of years later, there were the rich, the middle class and the poor and everyone believed that is how things have always been.