Is wealth created or just distributed? Let me explain you with a short story!
May 28, 2025 5:40 am
Dear ,
Is wealth created or just distributed?
Let me explain it with a short story about 2 Villages.
The Tale of the Two Villages
Once upon a time, in a quiet valley, there were two neighboring villages: Stillwater and Brightfield. Both had the same fertile soil, the same rain, and the same number of people. Stillwater prided itself on fairness, they believed wealth was simply something to be divided. Every harvest, all the food was gathered in one big storehouse and shared equally. No one had more, no one had less.
Brightfield, however, believed that wealth could be created. They encouraged their villagers to experiment, some farmed better tools, some learned to breed stronger crops, and others began baking bread, weaving cloth, or raising bees for honey. Everyone still helped one another, but they kept what they created.
At first, Stillwater villagers scoffed at Brightfield. “They’re just dividing things unevenly,” they muttered. “Soon they’ll be at war over who gets more.”
But the years passed, and a strange thing happened.
In Stillwater, things stayed the same. The same tools, the same food, the same arguments over fairness. No one starved, but no one thrived either. Innovation was seen as greed. “Why should you have more just because you made more?” they’d say.
Meanwhile in Brightfield, something remarkable was happening. A boy named Taro invented a windmill to help grind wheat faster. He taught others, and soon there were many windmills. A girl named Mina discovered a way to dry fruit so it would last through winter. Her dried apples were traded with nearby towns for spices. A carpenter named Jorin crafted furniture so fine that people from far away came to buy it. They brought gold, tools, and books.
Brightfield didn’t just have more, they had different. New things. Things that had never existed before.
One year, a storm hit both villages. Stillwater’s crops were ruined. Their storehouse ran low, and without extra skills or trades, the village suffered greatly. Brightfield also lost crops, but Mina’s dried fruit, Taro’s windmills, and Jorin’s trades helped them survive. They had backups. Options. Ideas.
Hearing of Brightfield’s fortune, Stillwater’s mayor visited. “We thought you were just redistributing wealth unfairly,” he admitted. “But it seems you’ve created something entirely new.”
Taro smiled. “We didn’t take more from others. We made more, by solving problems, taking risks, and building on each other's work.”
The mayor frowned. “But doesn’t that mean some have more than others?”
“Yes,” Mina said, “but that difference isn’t theft, it’s creation. And creation lifts everyone, eventually.”
From that day, Stillwater began to change. They didn’t abandon fairness, but they learned that fairness didn’t mean freezing time. Wealth, they saw, wasn’t a fixed pie to be sliced, it was a recipe to be improved.
And so, the valley thrived. Not just from dividing what they had, but from dreaming what could be.
Moral: Wealth is not merely distributed. It is created—through innovation, effort, and imagination.
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Best regards,
Vinoth Kanna
Admin, Gale.in