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My Neighbor "Bill"

by Pat Pending

When I was a kid, we had a neighbor across the street named "Bill".  He was retired and a widower with no children.  Bill had many nieces and nephews living in town, but only one niece, "Susan", ever came to spend time with him or help him.

Susan came regularly.  She helped Bill do his grocery shopping, took him to his doctor appointments, hired a woman to clean his house, and generally tended to his needs as best she could.

When my father would go across the street to visit with Bill, he always heard lots of complaints about "Susan".  Bill didn't appreciate what Susan did for him.  Instead, he complained that Susan didn't come often enough, or that she came too early or too late.  He complained that the cleaning lady Susan hired didn't always do a good job -- sometimes she missed some dust or failed to vacuum the spare bedroom.  In the end, Bill was so angry about Susan's imperfections that he called his lawyer and changed his will to ensure that Susan would receive no inheritance from him.  Susan was unaware of Bill's action and continued helping Bill until he died. 

When Bill died, the other nieces and nephews, who had never helped Bill, and who had completely ignored him for years, received an inheritance, and Susan received nothing.  Susan was hurt to realize that, not only did Bill not appreciate everything she had done for him, but he had treated her much worse than the others, who had completely ignored him.

It's a pity that Bill took Susan's help for granted, didn't appreciate it, and, in fact, ended up biting the hand that fed him by disinheriting her.  It seems to be a quirk of our human nature that we take for granted all the gifts that others give us, while griping about their imperfections.  If Susan had realized that Bill planned to punish her, she might well have decided to stop helping Bill and to spend her time more productively.  You certainly couldn't fault her for making such a decision.  But Bill isn't the only one who bites the hand that feeds him.  We do it every day in our public policy decisions.

For example, we love it when developers work hard, as Susan did, to build us our dream homes in the suburbs, and we love the convenience of the shopping centers they build, but we take these developers for granted as we gripe about sprawl, just as Bill griped about Susan.  So we vote for politicians who proceed to enact laws and regulations that make future construction more difficult and expensive, biting the hand of the developers.  Later, we wonder why affordable housing is so difficult to find.  Of course, being like Bill, we then blame the "evil developers" for the shortage of affordable housing and ask our elected officials to enact still more regulations.

Similarly, drug companies work very hard, as Susan did, to develop new medicines to help make our lives longer and healthier.  They invest huge amounts of money and take tremendous risks in order to develop the few drugs that actually succeed.  Then, we use the drugs, just as Bill used Susan, taking it for granted that the drug companies will continue to develop new drugs, while complaining that the drugs are too expensive.  If our elected officials take steps to curtail the property rights of the drug companies in order to please us and reduce the price of the drugs, they will be biting the hand that feeds us and making it much more difficult for these companies to continue to develop new drugs in the future.  Of course, we will not know what cures and benefits will be prevented by this ignorant behavior, but it will feel good to "get even" with those evil drug companies who take so much of our money, just as Bill felt good when he "got even" with Susan by cutting her out of his will.

Similarly, petroleum companies work very hard to explore for oil, take great risks in drilling, then refine the oil to make gasoline and distribute the gasoline all over the country.  We take it for granted that there will be gasoline at the gas station whenever we need it, just as Bill took Susan for granted, but, of course, being our usual grumpy selves, we complain that the price of the gasoline is too high.  If our elected officials listen to us and take steps to prevent the petroleum companies from recovering their costs and earning a profit, they will be interfering with the ability of the petroleum companies to meet our needs.  Then, we may well find there is no longer a ready supply at the gas station when we need it.  (Remember the long lines at the gas pumps in the 1970's?)

Of course, we could give one example after another of destructive policies that are enacted due to our failure to appreciate the benefits others have bestowed on us. 

The fact is that we should not take for granted the benefits we receive from others, and all we have to do in order to receive them is to respect the property rights of others.  Businesses don't owe us anything.  They knock themselves out serving us in the hope that, if they serve us well, they will receive a profit.  If they perceive that the potential rewards are not worth the risks, then they will stop serving us or will greatly reduce the benefits they offer us.  We can't expect businesses to be as selfless and trusting as Susan was.

Which brings us to the proposed amendment #2 to the Kentucky constitution, which would remove some punitive regulations that make it risky and difficult for businesses to serve us in Kentucky.  For example, the Kentucky Constitution now says that, if a company owns land and does not use it for business purposes within five years, the state will take that land away from the business.  Would you buy land in the hope of expanding your business under such risky circumstances?  I certainly wouldn't!  Of course, we will never know how many businesses did not locate here and did not offer us jobs, products, or services, due to such a punitive law.  But, if we are like Bill, we will be happy to "get even" with those mean old businesses, won't care that we are biting the hand that feeds us, and won't realize how much we are losing in the process.

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