A lesson

When I was in about standard 6 or 7, I heard that when my friends did well in class their parents paid them. I was in the 'A' stream class so most of my friends did well academically, and I had been doing pretty well too at the time. So I figured I should be rewarded with money too! After all, most of my friends were...

So one day I went and told my dad that I reckoned I should be financially rewarded for good work. So my dad thought about it and gave me what, in retrospect, was a wonderful answer.

He thought about it and answered: "Well, I tell you what, if you come first in class I'll give you R xxx, if you come second in class I'll give you R yyy, if you come third in class I'll give you R zzz. But if you come fourth in class, YOU have to give ME R zzz, if you come fifth in class you have to give me R yyy and if you come lower than fifth you have to give me R xxx."
heh.
So I thought "!!!!!!"
And responded "no thanks, I don't like that arrangement" and my desire for (and expectation of!) reward was thoroughly gone :)

It was the best lesson because in a few words he managed to express how silly it is to place too much importance on academic achievement. And how silly it is to expect rewards for everything!