Personal Narrative: Monopoly

When I was a child, a game I used to enjoy playing was Monopoly. My sisters and I would play the game for hours and, at the end, I usually won. Though my sisters used to believe I was a really good player, since I always won, I had a way to make sure I won all the time. As the eldest, I played the banker almost all the time. Since I knew more math than my sisters back then, I used this to my advantage and would deliberately overcharge them when they wished to purchase a spot on the board. Thinking I would never get caught, I continued to use my winning tactic all the time. Eventually, the day came when one of my younger sisters decided to bring along her own calculator to check my work and, of course, I was caught. She told my mother and I received a lengthy lecture on how cheating and being unfair in a board game could

The incident was a teachable moment for my mother. While playing the game, my only goal was to win. For a 10 year old, winning was everything. My mother explained that playing fair would be better for me, whether I succeeded in winning the game or not. She said that if I try hard, I can still win the game, but if I cheat, then my winning would be meaningless. She told me a story about a farmer. The farmer woke up early every day to work on his apple orchard. He spent years caring for them, and finally, they bloomed their first apple. He picked the apple out and held it in his hands for some time before finally taking a bite. Meanwhile, a man in the city approached the grocery store. He grabbed and apple from the shelf, paid for it, and stuck it into his mouth without paying much attention to the apple and how it felt and tasted. She asked me who enjoyed the apple more, the farmer who had worked hard for it or the man who received it easily. I