There was a plumber who was very successful. He plumbed all the new major developments. When residents had a burst pipe, he made timely repairs. Because of his expertise and work ethic, he was wealthy and his store was chock full of plumbing tools.
Others saw this success and considered it unfair, pointing to the plumbers ample tools and supplies which caused his success. They petitioned the city to take the plumbers tools and distribute them evenly to every person in town. Then each person would have a portion of tools and might have the chance of success as the plumber had.
After the redistribution had taken place, a plumbing crisis ensued. New builds had a difficult time finding someone to plumb, those with the redistributed plumbing tools not having the skill to use them, and the plumber not having his tools available anymore to assist. Pipes burst around town but the plumber, supplies and tools dwindled to near nothing, could find no means to use his skill, for his tools were gone, given to those who had no skill to put them to work.
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Three trees grew in an orchard. The first was heavy laden with plump and polished apples. The second had a decent amount of apples, though they were a bit smaller and more sparsely spread. The last tree was thin and twiggy, a few wrinkled apples peaking out shyly behind the leaves.
The mayor of the city, hungry for re election, came to the orchard and demanded the caretaker pull all but a few of the apples from the first tree; since it had so many, it could afford to have much taken from it. He also instructed the second tree to have half the apples taken. None were taken from the third.
The caretaker of the orchard, knowing a thing or two about apple trees, told the Mayor that this was a very bad idea. Each of the apples on the first tree contained in their seeds the genetics for other trees which will themselves be full of apples. The apples of the second tree carry within their seeds future trees with as many apples. What few apples harvest from the last tree, if planted, will yield trees of its kind.
He instructed the mayor that, if he took only a modest amount of apples from the first tree to give to the village and left the others to be planted for the next year, it would yield more and more apple trees, each heavy laden fruit. And, if each year he continued to let the apples trees yield, it would eventually fill the orchard with bountiful trees.
But the smell of a second term was sweet, and the mayor instead ordered all but a few of the apples taken from the first tree and carted back to the village. The second tree was well picked over too. The last tree was left to have its apples drop and grow more scanty trees.
Thought Butter 