Less Biscuits, More Mouths.

Less Biscuits, More Mouths.

While jogging at the beach this morning, I saw this interesting sight. A guy with a bag of what appeared to be Parle-G biscuits was feeding some stray dogs. As I jogged a few steps further, I saw two more parties appear at the scene. The crows and a kid. I did not want to stop and make the good man conscious, so I passed by but I could notice he was probably pulling out some biscuits out of the bag for what appeared to be a hungry kid. I guess he may not have bothered or rationed for the crows as they are anyway widely seen as scavengers. 

A moment later, I pondered what would he have done if he had limited resources at hand. What if he had just a handful of biscuits but quite a few dogs, the kid & the crows as potential consumers? No, in no way am I comparing the plight of the kid with that of the dogs and the crows. What if he had a pack of 5 biscuits but 8 dogs, the kid & the crows wanted to get some of it? Would he pick one to feed or would he pick two (or all three parties) and spread out what was available in a proportion that he deemed to be fit. And what if it was someone else in his place in the same situation?

I guess we all face similar challenges in our personal and professional lives. Resources ( Time, Money, Energy, Promotion Slots, Positions, Budgets etc.) are often limited and we need to spread them across multiple things/people that require them. Some at the exact same time. Some might (figuratively speaking) pick the kid and give him everything ( if they feel the kid needs it the most) , some might still want to give it all to the dogs (for whom the resources were originally meant), some might spilt it between the kid and the dogs, some might give it to just selected ( and not all ) dogs and yet others might also feed the crows ( after all, some of us consider them as our ancestors and feel good if a crow comes to feed from us).

None of the above ( and more such ) options are probably "wrong". The distribution of limited resources will always depend heavily on the mindset and goal of the entity ( a single person or a group ) wanting to distribute it and, hence, there will always be three perceptions that will be formed no matter what methodology/thought is used to distribute the resources. One set will feel they were short changed and got none/less of it, one set will be grateful and feel that they got the resources, probably because they deserved it and one set will be indifferent to the outcome. 

Biscuits are always limited. Allocate them judiciously if you are an entity. Cut the entity some slack if you were expecting to be a recipient.