Saturday, January 14, 2012

The Risk Of Lending

I have the books of people I will never see again. They also have some of mine. Not that it would be terribly difficult for either of us to replace them, but our books have a sentimental value to them. They are "our" books and not somebody else's.

Nobody stole the other person's book. We simply said that we would return it next time we saw each other, and then that didn't happen.

This is the risk you take when you lend your things to others. As soon as it is not in your possession, there is a chance, no matter how unlikely, that you will never see it again.

If you are not willing to take that risk, don't lend your things out.

1 comment:

  1. This reminds me, I need to return a book ;) There is one particular book that I recommend frequently to people at work: Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits... I finally just started purchasing 5-6 at a time on Ebay, when I am down to my last one, I order more... this way I keep my precious marked up copy in my possession!

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