A letter to the Financial Speculators

Dear Thieves,

I have come to warn you as Jacob Marley's ghost came to warn Scrooge (loosely quoting Dickens): "You will wear the chain you forge in life. You make it link by link, and yard by yard... For it is truly required of everyone, that one's spirit should walk among his fellow men, and travel far and wide. If that spirit does not, it is doomed to wander the world and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared."

How do you feel now? Are you happy in your cold, big house? Are you beloved by all you have touched? Does your money comfort you in the loneliness of your thoughts? What if you lost all your money? What would you have then? Do you have friends who come through for you in the hard times?

You sure did have what Scrooge would admire as "a good head for business." You sold out yourself, your fellow brothers and sisters, our children, your country, and mankind, but you did do a lot of business. You took the easy way. You took the greedy way. It didn't feel right, but your values are "greed is good." As Dr. Seuss' character, the Once-ler, says, "If I didn't do it then someone else would." You justified your lies.

"Would you know," pursued the Ghost, "the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself? ...It is a ponderous chain!" Every time your ego clouded your judgment, every moment you were silent when you should have spoken, every dream you have shattered, is a link on your chain.

The hubris you wear as a shield now prevents you from knowing, "This means YOU." But someday, your chain will keep you awake. Someday, your chain will wear you down. Someday, your chain will chill you with its loneliness.

There is no way out. The only way is sacrificing short-term payoffs for long-term benefits: "Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business. The dealings were a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!" Your business distracts you from your real business.

The rest of us wish you "a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. You'll be very merry and very happy, we have no doubt!"

Prop 8 - The Musical

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