Price of Playing
WE RECEIVED A PHOTO Christmas card from a guy I used to work with. The picture was taken at his daughter’s wedding, with my old colleague standing next to his wife, son and daughter-in-law. Picture perfect.
The only problem: His story isn’t picture perfect. When he and I first met, we worked in the same division at an insurance company. Right before the division was closed down, I transferred to a different department. Eventually, we were both laid off. I went in one direction. He chose a completely different direction, becoming a life-insurance salesman.
After our division was closed down, rumors started circulating that he had cheated on his wife. This shocked me because this guy looked like a boy scout. In fact, he had been an Eagle Scout. Such people are supposed to be trustworthy, loyal and kind. I’d put him on a pedestal.
When I approached women who had worked in the same division as this guy and asked about his infidelity, they all said, “Oh yeah, that doesn’t surprise me.”
Learning all this, my attitude toward my old colleague changed. It isn’t that I’d never heard of anyone cheating on his wife. Rather, it was because I’d held him in such high regard. Other mutual friends also ended their relationship with this guy.
His wife, however, never left him. She was pregnant with the daughter who’d later be the Christmas card bride. When the guy’s wife was challenged by mutual friends, she said she couldn’t leave because she wasn’t working and needed his support to raise their two kids. Result? The Christmas card I found myself looking at.
My wife worked with a colleague who used to joke that, “It’s cheaper to keep her.” In my ex-colleague’s case, it was his wife who decided she couldn’t afford not to keep him. Anyone who’s gone through a divorce will tell you it’s almost always a costly proposition, especially if it’s a nasty divorce.
How costly? For Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the price tag was $38 billion. His wife, MacKenzie, met Bezos at hedge fund D.E. Shaw. They left to start Amazon together. He cheated on her, they divorced and she ended up receiving $38 billion.
When my first marriage ended, it wasn’t due to cheating. It was because I didn’t want kids. This didn’t sit well with my first wife, who came from a large Irish Catholic family. She got the marriage annulled. I didn’t contest the divorce. She paid for the whole thing since she was the one who wanted out.
We all make mistakes. We’re all human. Have you considered the consequences of your actions? If the action is worth the price you might pay, go for it. If not, maybe—as with all financial decisions—it’s worth stopping to ask, “Should I do this or not?”
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