But why?
Why is bigger, so insatiable?
Why is enough, so dreary?
When unconscious ardor and unconscious abhorrence run rampant within our hearts, our souls, our minds, our bodies... spurring us with vicious whips of avarice towards that which is shameless and dissolute, ever distancing our selves from that which is graceful and humble... how often do we take a moment to ask ourselves... why?
The Mystery of the Winner and the Prize
There is a man. A hero from an ancient world. A champion. Nay, I speak not of titles of grandiosity; rather, titles earned in arenas of old. Clever and nimble, this man won much in the eyes of spectators and plutocrats, alike.
But alas, that which he won in fullest measure, was not the respect nor admiration of all. Indeed, that which he won in astounding magnitude, was the loathing and contempt, bitterness and jealousy, of many. For though he knew it not, as he danced in every arena with a heart full and true, the fallen seethed with vengeance fueled by credos of lies and talismans of untruths.
The truth?
This man, is indeed, a hero from an ancient world. For no coin was ever awarded him, for his bravery in arenas all. Unless the pittance of ha' pennies tossed as careless afterthoughts by disaffected hordes are to be measured and counted, like grains of sand in a perpetual hourglass.
Like gladiators of an ancient world, his life belongs not to himself. All that was ever amassed, from every feat ever accomplished, in every arena since his first, padded lavishly the rapacious pockets of all who profited from the unmitigated exploitation of his mind, his body, his heart, his soul. From ticket sales of shameless voyeurs, to entrance fees of ambitious questors, to concession earnings of venues galore, to heart poundingly altitudinous wagers of oligarchs aplenty... from every arena near, to every stage far... all who prospered... biggered and biggered and biggered and biggered.
While, the man...
The truth?
Have we forgotten that gladiators of old, belonged to plutocrats, who exploited hopes and dreams and lives for amusement and avarice? (Would you choose to battle in an arena of life and death, if it was your life or death?)
Have we forgotten that gladiators, when offered death outside the arena, chose life within the arena? (Wouldn't you, faced with the same Catch-22, chose the same?)
Have we forgotten that gladiators, earned nothing upon victory, except the promise of death in the next arena? (Is it surprising then, that such gladiators exude such intense ferocity?)
The truth?
The answer to the mystery of the winner and the prize is this:
If the competitor who always wins, belongs to a plutocrat, and his prize is never more than the promise of death in the next arena -- who wins treasures untold?
If those who are biggering and biggering -- are biggering and biggering -- by deceit and exploitation --- what's the likelihood that anyone wins real treasures untold?
If one competitor is playing for so-called treasures untold, and another competitor is playing for his life -- who is motivated by more, to win?
If one competitor is immoral, and another competitor is honorable -- who's to say that a competitor's elimination from the game, isn't the result of an honorable death over a dishonorable life?
When a competitor has nothing left to give, after he has sacrificed or otherwise forfeited his life in the arena... what reverts back to the plutocrat, to whom he belongs? Everything.
For the lie that gladiators tell themselves, to mitigate the paralyzing helplessness of unrelenting subjection, is that their life outside the arena is their own. But everything outside the arena, is conscriptable in toto, by plutocrats, too.
If the only arena that matters to those exempt from the trivialities of mundanities, is the stage that's the world:
They who rule the arena, rule the world... and they who rule the world, rule the arena.
But alas, that which he won in fullest measure, was not the respect nor admiration of all. Indeed, that which he won in astounding magnitude, was the loathing and contempt, bitterness and jealousy, of many. For though he knew it not, as he danced in every arena with a heart full and true, the fallen seethed with vengeance fueled by credos of lies and talismans of untruths.
The truth?
This man, is indeed, a hero from an ancient world. For no coin was ever awarded him, for his bravery in arenas all. Unless the pittance of ha' pennies tossed as careless afterthoughts by disaffected hordes are to be measured and counted, like grains of sand in a perpetual hourglass.
Like gladiators of an ancient world, his life belongs not to himself. All that was ever amassed, from every feat ever accomplished, in every arena since his first, padded lavishly the rapacious pockets of all who profited from the unmitigated exploitation of his mind, his body, his heart, his soul. From ticket sales of shameless voyeurs, to entrance fees of ambitious questors, to concession earnings of venues galore, to heart poundingly altitudinous wagers of oligarchs aplenty... from every arena near, to every stage far... all who prospered... biggered and biggered and biggered and biggered.
While, the man...
The truth?
Have we forgotten that gladiators of old, belonged to plutocrats, who exploited hopes and dreams and lives for amusement and avarice? (Would you choose to battle in an arena of life and death, if it was your life or death?)
Have we forgotten that gladiators, when offered death outside the arena, chose life within the arena? (Wouldn't you, faced with the same Catch-22, chose the same?)
Have we forgotten that gladiators, earned nothing upon victory, except the promise of death in the next arena? (Is it surprising then, that such gladiators exude such intense ferocity?)
The truth?
The answer to the mystery of the winner and the prize is this:
If the competitor who always wins, belongs to a plutocrat, and his prize is never more than the promise of death in the next arena -- who wins treasures untold?
If those who are biggering and biggering -- are biggering and biggering -- by deceit and exploitation --- what's the likelihood that anyone wins real treasures untold?
If one competitor is playing for so-called treasures untold, and another competitor is playing for his life -- who is motivated by more, to win?
If one competitor is immoral, and another competitor is honorable -- who's to say that a competitor's elimination from the game, isn't the result of an honorable death over a dishonorable life?
When a competitor has nothing left to give, after he has sacrificed or otherwise forfeited his life in the arena... what reverts back to the plutocrat, to whom he belongs? Everything.
For the lie that gladiators tell themselves, to mitigate the paralyzing helplessness of unrelenting subjection, is that their life outside the arena is their own. But everything outside the arena, is conscriptable in toto, by plutocrats, too.
If the only arena that matters to those exempt from the trivialities of mundanities, is the stage that's the world:
They who rule the arena, rule the world... and they who rule the world, rule the arena.
Fin
The lottery is fantastical, to be sure.
But lest our greed and avarice overtake our mortal souls, that which is graceful is not so terribly pitiful nor so bitterly wretched; especially when that which we've earned, is realized honestly, virtuously, rightfully.
No wealth, power, influence, aggrandizement -- is worth acquiring and possessing -- by pilfering, pillaging, ravaging, defrauding.
Period.
Period.
To do so, adulterates the goodness, the nobility, the dignity of the hearts, the souls, the minds, the bodies of good people, noble people, worthy people.
Enough is not dreary, if all of us decide, that enough is enough.
For me. For you. For one. For all.
Enough.
More
Much of that which contextually scaffolds the mystery of the winner and the prize, is beyond the scope of this post.
Nevertheless, here are several caveats:
Willingly volunteering for an arena doesn't preclude unwilling exploitation in any arena and beyond.
(Who willingly volunteers for unwilling exploitation in any arena or beyond? Furthermore, how likely is unwilling exploitation to be far less than genteel?)
That which some competitors can't, don't, or won't procure for plutocrats via some arenas, is procured one way or another... via other competitors, other arenas, etc.
(How likely is anyone willing to make up for that which failed to be procured, for a plutocrat, by another competitor? Moreover, how likely is the treatment of these other competitors to be less genteel by far... and how likely are these other arenas to be less genteel by far?)
Needless to say, while some arenas are characterized by thrilling and enjoyable competition, no arena unequivocally precludes, for example, torturous depravity, humiliating degradation, invisible fixing, etc.
(Who willingly pays this price to play a game that may or may not award so-called treasures to any competitor?)
Lastly, is any competitor any more free... than any of us are free... to choose the weather... on any given Sunday?
- M.
Other Notes on Other Winners and Other Prizes
Ah... the irony: Winners of Record US Powerball Jackpot to Come Forward on Reuters (2/16/16)
Is it possible that these lucky duckies are keeping their residences and their jobs, because all is not as it seems? Illinois lottery sued for not paying winnings... on Chicago Tribune (9/9/15)
Which calls to mind other lucky duckies with their prizes: 'The Price Is Right' - but the Taxes Are Wrong on ABC (8/9/12); What happens when you win The Price Is Right on A.V.Club (8/12/13); All Prizes Trigger Taxes (And You Can't Pay IRS In Doughnuts) on Forbes (12/11/12).
Not unlike... employer gifted gift cards... which are taxed from employee earnings as income or as prizes or rewards, thereby reducing the actual value of such gift cards to as low as half. Nice. Moreover, even when employees decline to use such gift cards upon their award, employees may not realize that they've already paid all requisite taxes for such rewards. Because all requisite taxes for such rewards are levied by employers prior to the award of such gifts. Furthermore, employees are often not permitted to opt out of gift card reward systems (because they're linked to public facing facades of employee appreciation, corporate relationships between employers and gift card vendors, and so on and so forth). Notwithstanding that coerced participation in employer appreciation of employees also requires employees to express compulsory gratitude for what amount to pittances. In truth, the underlying value of such gifts are actually deductions from employee caritas and goodwill. Nice.
What exactly does a pay it forward gift card from an employer to an employee mean... if the gift itself... robs the recipient... to gild the ego of the giver?
Each of the prizes above highlight callous disregard for human dignity, because at the heart of every prize, is fraud... perpetrated by humans on humans, for greed, avarice, conceit, aggrandizement.
When will the price of human excess... be too much? When will too much... be enough?
- M.
More
"I don't want your money" -- means --- "I don't want your throw away charity your empty sincerity. I want what I've earned... honestly, virtuously, rightfully. I want what you've robbed me... by pilfering, pillaging, ravaging, defrauding... my heart, my soul, my mind, my body. I want justice. I want freedom. I want equality. For me. For you. For one. For all."
- M.
Nevertheless, here are several caveats:
Willingly volunteering for an arena doesn't preclude unwilling exploitation in any arena and beyond.
(Who willingly volunteers for unwilling exploitation in any arena or beyond? Furthermore, how likely is unwilling exploitation to be far less than genteel?)
That which some competitors can't, don't, or won't procure for plutocrats via some arenas, is procured one way or another... via other competitors, other arenas, etc.
(How likely is anyone willing to make up for that which failed to be procured, for a plutocrat, by another competitor? Moreover, how likely is the treatment of these other competitors to be less genteel by far... and how likely are these other arenas to be less genteel by far?)
Needless to say, while some arenas are characterized by thrilling and enjoyable competition, no arena unequivocally precludes, for example, torturous depravity, humiliating degradation, invisible fixing, etc.
(Who willingly pays this price to play a game that may or may not award so-called treasures to any competitor?)
Lastly, is any competitor any more free... than any of us are free... to choose the weather... on any given Sunday?
- M.
Other Notes on Other Winners and Other Prizes
Ah... the irony: Winners of Record US Powerball Jackpot to Come Forward on Reuters (2/16/16)
Is it possible that these lucky duckies are keeping their residences and their jobs, because all is not as it seems? Illinois lottery sued for not paying winnings... on Chicago Tribune (9/9/15)
Which calls to mind other lucky duckies with their prizes: 'The Price Is Right' - but the Taxes Are Wrong on ABC (8/9/12); What happens when you win The Price Is Right on A.V.Club (8/12/13); All Prizes Trigger Taxes (And You Can't Pay IRS In Doughnuts) on Forbes (12/11/12).
Not unlike... employer gifted gift cards... which are taxed from employee earnings as income or as prizes or rewards, thereby reducing the actual value of such gift cards to as low as half. Nice. Moreover, even when employees decline to use such gift cards upon their award, employees may not realize that they've already paid all requisite taxes for such rewards. Because all requisite taxes for such rewards are levied by employers prior to the award of such gifts. Furthermore, employees are often not permitted to opt out of gift card reward systems (because they're linked to public facing facades of employee appreciation, corporate relationships between employers and gift card vendors, and so on and so forth). Notwithstanding that coerced participation in employer appreciation of employees also requires employees to express compulsory gratitude for what amount to pittances. In truth, the underlying value of such gifts are actually deductions from employee caritas and goodwill. Nice.
What exactly does a pay it forward gift card from an employer to an employee mean... if the gift itself... robs the recipient... to gild the ego of the giver?
Each of the prizes above highlight callous disregard for human dignity, because at the heart of every prize, is fraud... perpetrated by humans on humans, for greed, avarice, conceit, aggrandizement.
When will the price of human excess... be too much? When will too much... be enough?
- M.
More
"I don't want your money" -- means --- "I don't want your throw away charity your empty sincerity. I want what I've earned... honestly, virtuously, rightfully. I want what you've robbed me... by pilfering, pillaging, ravaging, defrauding... my heart, my soul, my mind, my body. I want justice. I want freedom. I want equality. For me. For you. For one. For all."
- M.
