You would have to live in a cave on another planet not to be aware of Tim Russert's death last week. I'm not about to write another tribute to him, other than to say that on the same day I read glowing tributes in both the Wall Street Journal and the Huffington Post. I imagine that would please him. It's a shame he didn't live to see the Bills win a Superbowl!
Last summer my sister had surgery, and I stayed a week with her to help her out. After she discovered she was going to live, and perhaps aided by her pain meds, she got on the internet and started spending money. One of the things she bought was a caricature of Tim Russert that came with an autographed neck tie. She bought this for me, via a charity auction online. Now, I've always liked Russert....who didn't?....but never was a fawning fan. When the package arrived, it sat around a while until I decided that the drawing wasn't very good, certainly not frameable. So, I disposed of it and kept the tie.
When Russert died, I put the tie up for sale on EBay. My friend Budd Baily happened to be visiting from Buffalo at the time, and described this a "ghoulish". Maybe he's right, but here is how I see it: Via EBay, the tie got into the hands of the person who valued it the most. I don't know anything about the person who paid $81 for this tie (can you imagine if I wasn't a moron and had kept the drawing?), but he clearly values the tie more than I, and now he has it. Good for him, good for me.
So, am I a ghoul for profiting from a fellow Bills fan's death, or am I a good guy for getting a mommento of this beloved man in the hands of the person who valued it most? I know what economists would say: Utility had been maximized!
2 comments:
Your argument would be stronger if you had spelled my last name right.
Nice change from the usual first-name errors, though.
Good guy. Then when the person you sold it to re-sells it for twice as much, he'll be the ghoul.
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