DIDN'T YOUR MOMMA TEACH YOU TO SHARE?

On the far western edge of the archipelago known as Indonesia, is an island called Sumatra, and on the far western edge of this island, is the province of Aceh (ah-chay). In this province, near the town of Lhok Seumawe, there is a company compound for the employees of the national oil company and its contractors. And, in the sector of this compound that was once devoted to Mobil Oil employees, but which has now been abandoned and is being returned to the jungle, there once was a tiny little commissary.

This tiny little commissary carried a tiny selection of basic food stuffs - and when I say basic, I mean basic! Most of our food came from the farmers' market in Lhok Seumawe, and was locally grown or produced, but at the commissary you could usually find a small assortment of canned goods, jellies and fruit drinks, some frozen meat, shelf-stable milk-in-a-box, toilet paper, and a few other things that had been flown in on the company plane. On rare occasions, however, something out of the ordinary might show up, in limited quantities - like a dozen or two tubs of sour cream or cream cheese, or maybe even a case of M&M's or Dr. Pepper! That, my friends, was true cause for celebration. It was also the time when you found out what people were really made of.

What would you do, if you were the first person to stumble upon a cache of cream cheese, and no one else was in the store at the time? Would you take one (maybe two) for yourself, but leave the rest so that others might share the joy, or would you grab the lot and stash them all in your freezer? Most of us opted for sharing, but not everyone. One of my friends walked into the commissary just in time to see another with a counter full of sour cream being rung up. Believe you me, the whole compound knew about it within minutes, and no one ever looked at that woman in quite the same way again.

You see, just because something is there, doesn't mean you have the right to take it all, or even more than your share. You're supposed to leave some for everyone who comes later. Take the earth's finite resources, for example. Are we using more than our share? What exactly then, is that saying to our kids and grandkids?