Tuesday, October 25, 2005

A life lesson in the making

We went to the horse races last weekend. It's not the nasty, filthy, smoky, full-of-drunks place you might imagine. The local track (which is quite famous) is a clean, well-run establishment that seems to encourage families to attend. It's fun. And my daughters had a blast picking out horses and watching them run. I picked out a horse in one race and placed a little bet ($2). My eldest daughter also happened to pick that horse (but didn't bet of course). So we cheered him on together. A nice father-daughter bonding moment. He came in third. At about 15:1. I had bet for him to show so I won a little money. My daughter announced that we were going to split the winnings since she had also picked that horse... Hang on. Who placed the bet? Who risked his money? There's a lesson in there for my daughter. Right?


Sigh. She's getting half the money... And my youngest daughter is also getting some since it wouldn't be fair otherwise...

Lesson for the day: Don't bet. Even when you win, you lose.

2 comments:

Jeff Seale said...

one of the 10 commandments of the workplace is:
Never bet on a race unless you are running it.

might fit here, too. :o)

Odyssey said...

The at home version would be:

Never bet on a race in front of those who have you wrapped around their little fingers...