As I grew older, I forgot many details, how he beat Little John by the bridge, there's Friar Tuck, his band of Merry Men, etc...
But the 2 things I remembered most from Robinhood was...
1. He robbed from the rich to give to the poor.
2. He split an arrow with another arrow.
Number 2 is apparently scientifically not possible as proven by Mythbusters.
At least not with a normal wood shaft arrow.
Episode 36 and Episode 51
Just FYI.
As for point 1...
Robbing from the rich to give to the poor.
That's what we've learnt most of our lives.
Ever wonder why?
I mean... what kind of bright idea was it to teach children that robbing from the rich to give to the poor was an honourable thing to do?
Apparently Robinhood only stole from those who got rich by dishonest means, and did not steal from honest men... how many of us remember this?
BUT... there is no doubt that Robinhood was a thief by LAW.
Of course in the story, the law is skewed towards the rulers so it is assumed that the law is unfair to the common folk.
When parents tell the story of Robinhood, does a child ever ask... why is it ok to rob from the rich?
Now, Robinhood was deemed to be a hero, and in the book, it's a story of kings and successions. So there's a lot of inference that there's corruption and stuff like that.
But how many people really dwell on such details?
Rob from the rich to give to the poor. That's all that matters right?
Cos the rich has money to lose...
Wait... WHAT?
Somehow that's how the world works.
When you have more, the people around somehow want a piece of it.
When you're rich, people expect you to give back to society.
When you're retired, people expect you to help others.
And considering that there are less rich than the everyone else...
Of course it sounds wonderful. Take money from the rich and share it with others...
Until you become rich that is... Then suddenly you realize... waitttt a minute...
Now, I'm not rich. I have enough to retire, but not in luxury.
But already there are people who've been calling for me to help others in terms of time and money.
Why?
Why should there be any responsibility to help others?
I mean... helping others is good and all. A choice... yes sure. BUT a responsibility?
And I feel that that's a real issue in society these days.
People look for solutions from other people.
People want a bailout.
People want free stuff. Heck, even when I got free stuff, I had to actually go and get it for myself. There's effort involved.
There's really a lot of paths to success and wealth.
Few of them come easy and free. Unless you're lucky or your parents are rich.
But 99% of these paths to wealth and/or success required hard work and/or sacrifice.
Not to mention skill, luck, tenacity, etc.
BUT... somehow that's not cool anymore. Many people expect an easy path.
There are numerous folks who don't take responsibility for their decisions in life.
I mean... that's what risk and reward are about. Cause and effect.
If you take a loan and the business venture fails, then you still need to pay off the loan.
If you take a student loan, then the major that you study should make enough to repay the loan.
If we spend more when we're young and fail to save, then we should be prepared not to be able to retire.
If we work in a dead end job, then we shouldn't expect to get rich or maybe even not be able to support a lifestyle.
We are all human. With a brain and choices. Humans react to fear and reward. Carrot and stick.
Many of us studied hard cos we were afraid to fail, to be afraid that we won't get good jobs, etc.
Similarly, why shouldn't this fear continue to drive us to make better decisions in life?
Fear of large medical bills? Buy insurance.
Fear of lack of money for retirement? Plan for retirement and save hard.
Fear of losing your job? Keep upgrading, make sure that your skills are always needed by the company.
Fear should not be an excuse for helplessness.
Fear should be a driver. A call to action.
But yet these days, I feel that society is becoming more lenient to folks who don't take control of their own lives. I get a feeling that with each generation, we expect things to be given to us. We don't need to take responsibility for our own actions, our own choices, etc.
In life, there are always winners and losers, and somewhere in between.
What's important is to ensure that the less fortunate have a path to become a winner.
That doesn't mean hand outs.
The path must exist, whether they take the path or not, that's their own choice.
I wrote about surviving in SG with just an 'O' level.
So this thing about stealing from the rich and giving to the poor...
Well... aren't rich people just poor people who managed to get rich?
Yet somehow the rich are typically demonized as out of touch and exploiting the poor.
And yet... it is the actions of millions of common folk who make the rich rich.
Who made Steve Jobs rich? Who made Jack Ma rich?
Of course corruption and unfairness and illegal stuff shouldn't be condoned.
But many times, people just look at the rich and condemn them. And many people just feel that since they are rich, they should just give away their wealth.
Well... the thing is. If the normal people, or lower income doesn't know how to manage wealth, even with a lot of money or redistributed wealth, they also won't remain rich.
So the thing about rob the rich and give to the poor...
Well... sounds like communism to me.
Socialism is maybe pickpocketing the rich and give to the poor.
I'm not against nationalizing some important services.
I'm also not against higher taxes for the rich. The rich have an incentive to redistribute wealth to keep social peace so that they can continue to be rich.
But the whole idea of robbing the rich to give to the poor. That's unhealthy.
The rich aren't criminals. Even in Robinhood, the rich were unjust, but technically they weren't criminals.
What I do think, is that people really do need to be more responsible for their own lives and actions and stop expecting some get rich quick scheme or ideology to bail them out, and treating more successful people as a piggy bank.
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