Page 20 - G-Gold to Lead

With this block of “gold,” he will have plenty of food. He will be able to buy toys for his children and move to town. Like many of us, he engages in the fantasy that “Someday” things will get better with no real effort on his part.
As children, you were frequently exposed to this type of belief, from traditional fairy tales, to television sitcoms. In these stories, everything turns out great for the main characters. They get what they want, usually with very little effort or time spent at a task. After all, what can you accomplish in a half-hour sitcom?
But as in real life, the Young Man quickly finds out that life is not simple or easy and that the brick of “Gold” is really a brick of lead. Consequently, there are no riches and no immediate solutions to his problems. The Old Man, who sees this brick of lead as his most prized possession, provides guidance to the Young Man regarding use of the gift.
The Old Man suggests that he could melt down the lead to make musket balls... the round balls his rifle shoots. The Young Man is out of the musket balls but has plenty of gunpowder so if he had more musket balls he could kill turkeys or deer and feed his family. The Young Man’s response to this suggestion is, “I’ve done that before and it never worked well. I don’t intend to go to that much trouble doing something if it is not going to work.”
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