Cosmopolitan Toastmasters

"It All Goes Back in the Box" delivered at the District Contest by Chris Deanovic

A couple of weeks ago, we had some friends over for dinner.  As the evening progressed we decided to play a game.  The game of choice was Monopoly.  We have all played Monopoly as youngsters right.  Well, I was never really any good at Monopoly.  I always ended up making bad business decisions and losing right away.  But tonight was different.  Tonight I was determined to win.  I was going to out purchase, out mortgage and out barter everyone else.  Sure enough, slowly and methodically I started my aqusistions.  Property by property, house by house, utility by utility I amassed my empire.  Soon all the houses were accompanied by hotels.  One by one the railroads were combined.  I took no prisoners and showed compassion to no one, not even my wife.   And finally, after a few short hours, I owned the board, and the game ended by me taking the last dollar of the remaining player.  Yes he landed on Park Place, and with 4 houses and 1 hotel, it left him penniless and defeated.  I was the champion.  I was successful.  I had created an empire.  I had it all-if only for a moment.

Then my wife said something that has stuck with me ever since.  She said "It is time go, lets put it all back in the box" Back in the box, what are you crazy?  Can't we leave it out?  Can't I relish in my victory?  Can't I bronze this board and hang it on the wall as a symbol of my accomplishment?  Her response, as if talking to child was  "No dear, it all goes back in the box, so next time, someone else can play and acquire all the wealth, fame and possessions.  It all goes back in the box! It all goes back in the box!"

We live in a fast paced world today.  Everything is hurry, hurry, hurry rush, rush, rush.  E-mails and cell phones, fast food and pay at the pump. It is easy in the year 2002 to lose site of what is really important.  We are living in an age of greed.  Acquire more, work harder, bigger is better.  We get caught up in fighting for that promotion, or finding that vacation home, or building that company.  My how our lives emulate that game of Monopoly. 

 You see, at some point our lives will come to an end, and we will all leave this earth. None of us knows exactly the day nor the hour, and some of us sooner than others.  And just like the game of Monopoly "It all will go back in the box" When we die, all the cars, houses, boats, all the cabins at the lake, time shares in Vail, fancy clothing, high profile jobs, and business started from scratch, will all go back in the box.  Your empire regardless of the size will end just like the fictions game of Monopoly that we all enjoyed as youngsters.  It all will go back in the box in order for someone else at some other time in some other place to acquire wealth, fame and posessions  that we worked so feverishly and diligently for every day of our lives. All the 80 hour workweeks will have been in vain.  Nothing else will matter. Now, I am not suggesting that any of  these things-wealth, fame, or possessions or the subsequent aqusision of these things is negative. However, there is a greater good.  There is a larger game.

That larger game is this.  There is ONE thing that will remain here after you and I are gone and that is the experiences and effects that we leave with other people.  Everything else my friends is going back in the box.  Think back on your own life.  Do you remember those pivotal people scattered throughout your life?  The ones that left an impact that has remained with you ever since?  Maybe it was a teacher, or a coach, college roommate or high school friend. Collegue or Boss.   They might have done any number of things to change your life.  Maybe it was an act of kindness during a difficult time. Maybe they stood by you in an hour of need.  Maybe they believed in you and your abilities long after you had already given up.  It is this changing of lives that is timeless.  It is this changing of lives that make us immortal.  For one change in one persons life, can cause that person to subsequently change another?s life and so on and so on.   One act of kindness or motivation or positive reinforcement can create waves of similar acts that will ripple to the ends of the earth.  

Howard Hughes had it all, wealth, fame, and posessions. It to all went back in the box, and today someone else possesses it.  He is easily forgotten.    Mother Threasa had nothing, yet she changed the world forever.  Volunteer some time.  Offer encouragement to someone who is struggling.  Talk to that person you simply despise.  Share your knowledge and wealth.  Sacrifice for someone else's betterment.  Show passion.  Be that pivotal person in someone's life.  Change someone's life forever, for these are the things that matter.

Wealth, fame  and possessions provide us with nothing. For at the end and there is an end, it all goes back in the box.