Greed

I had two or three glorious years at Christmas during my youth. I remember the delight of pitting my parents against each other in a war of "who shows love more by buying the kid better stuff at Christmas". I knew it was greedy, but figured it was justified by being such a young product of a divorced home.

As I got older and more daring, my parents got more cunning too. Eventually, they spoke and figured out my secret plan. It went from "oh, you want that? we must get it then" to "you don't really want that, do you?". Sure enough, nearly every time, my answer was to freeze for a moment in deep thought and eventually reply with "no, I guess not". Kudos to my parents for keeping me from becoming a spoiled brat.

I'm sure I was not alone in my selfish phase. Luckily, I was raised right and taught the value of hard work and the almighty dollar. So what happens when those who never came out of that phase are now the parents?

On my drive to work this morning, I learned of something deeply unsettling. The local radio station (I'm saying / linking Q102 here in the hopes that they'll find my online) was hosting a contest on its morning show where a pair of tickets to the upcoming Miley Sirus / Hanna Montana concert was the prize. There was a secret word that, if uttered by one of the cast members, would prompt listeners to dial in and caller 102 would win the prize.

This morning, the lucky winner surprised the show members and the listening audience with "I don't want the tickets". He opted instead to have the show add them to a series of auction items where proceeds benefit a holiday charity for the less fortunate.

Then, one by one and quickly ten by ten, outraged parents called in, texted in, and--in a few isolated incidents--even stopped by the radio station to complain over what he had done. They claimed he did not have any right to do this; it wasn't how the game was supposed to work; folks were outraged that he took his fifteen minutes of fame to look like a caring stud and do something rather than let them be the cool mom or dad that scored tickets.

Reality check. . . the winner won the prize fair and square. The fact that he refused them is essentially just saying "Thank you, I'll regift these and send them elsewhere". The only difference is that he regifted to the giver. BIG F'N DEAL!

One parent complained that this wasn't fair and that she would now have to negotiate with scalpers as her only hope. Did she think that no one else was going to call in and she was going to win by the rest of Philadelphia's default? Never leverage your success on odds like that. Second, would you prefer that he take the tickets and become another scalper, making his own profit? Either way, YOU did not get the tickets. Faster fingers next time, toots.

Lastly, you're going to condemn someone for doing something nice in our cruel world?

My friend Marianne has a lot to say about frontal lobe development among minors; she's a really smart psychologist. She told me one time that most kids have awful reasoning because the frontal lobe (naturally the part that moderates this) isn't fully developed until 18 or 19; well above the target demographic for this type of show. So essentially, while they may need these tickets, and you would be a great parent for procuring them legitimately and humanely, they don't really need the tickets and will probably be OK after just a few days. Chances are, two or three years from now, they won't even remember anything about the concert, whether they went or not.

That being said, why subject me and other listeners like me to your greed. I completely understand wanting to give your kids the best and you'll stop at very little to accomplish that. It is what we all want for those we love. But at what cost? Berating those attempting to make a difference for those who are less fortunate? Give me a break!