Patience and Time Horizon

“Most people cannot not eat this chocolate muffin, if left with it alone and hungry,” Jigneshbhai said staring at the three muffins that the waiter got with our coffee the other day.

Swami also stared at them first and then glared at Jigneshbhai, who was still staring at the muffins. Then Swami picked up one of them and biting into it, he said, “But why do you want to not eat? We have come here for it.”

“See there you go,” Jigneshbhai laughed.

Picking up his coffee, he added, “But what if you are offered one additional free muffin tomorrow, when you pay for this one and don’t eat it today?”

Swami chomped a mouthful and said, “Oh, so like that marshmallow experiment?”

Jigneshbhai sipped into his coffee some more. “Yeah somewhat. But here you pay for it.”

“Hmm, interesting,” Swami said taking another bite.

It was clear to me that Swami wasn’t going to wait for tomorrow’s free muffin even if Jigneshbhai offered it. In any case, half of today’s muffin was already in his mouth, on the way to the stomach. The other half was waiting for its turn.

“Most of us will bite into today’s muffin,” Jigneshbhai remarked. Swami and I nodded in agreement. We promptly did what Jigneshbhai said most of us will do.

After finishing the muffin in a few bites and pushing it down with a few gulps of coffee, Swami had the grin of a child struck with a rare brain wave.

“But now that I have eaten one, if you make that offer now with the next one, maybe I will be able to resist,” he said.

Jigneshbhai had a smile on his muffin, err face. He had not touched his muffin yet. “You said it,” he said. “To resist today’s muffin, one shouldn’t be too hungry for it,” he added.

Swami and I looked at each other. We weren’t hungry for another muffin so could have taken up the free muffin offer now. But Swami still had doubts.

“What if you run away with my payment for today’s muffin?” he asked with eyebrows raised. “In that case, I lose today’s muffin and my payment. And don’t get tomorrow’s muffin too.”

I thought Swami had a point. And Jigneshbhai had a nod of agreement too.

“That’s the second condition. You should trust me and be sure that I will get you your free muffin tomorrow,” he said. “Only then will you not eat your muffin today, isn’t it?” he added.

“Yes,” Swami replied in a flash. “Otherwise there’s no point. Might as well eat it now.”

“Well, true. But if you find someone who you trust or think will get you your free muffin tomorrow, it might be worth the wait,” Jigneshbhai insisted.

“Well, true. But if you don’t find someone like that, it is better to eat your muffin today,” Swami said. “A muffin in hand is worth two in the bush,” he added and gulped another bite.

Both Jigneshbhai and Swami sounded logical to me, for a change. But it still wasn’t clear what I should do. Was it worth not eating your muffin today? Or was it better to eat it now? Like always, both my friends Jigneshbhai and Swami had valid points and I was convinced of both points of view and nodded.

It was then that the wealthy old man dropped in from the neighbouring table. He had been listening to our conversation.

He resolved my quandary when he said, “Don’t eat all your muffins today. Keep some for tomorrow, so that you get your free muffins. Then, when tomorrow comes, you can have your muffin and eat it too.”

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