Give and Take

As some of you know, last weekend marked the 3rd weekend in a row I was in Las Vegas. This trip was dedicated to high school friends and catching up on old hobbies. I love seeing old high school friends, knowing that you've been separated for years, but you can still connect with them. Makes you feel like you actually did something right in your life.

So among the hobbies practiced were poker, video games, collectible card games ("Who used to play Magic?!? ::raises hand::), and anime. And which anime was the talk of the town this weekend? Full Metal Alchemist.

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If you have never watched the English subs from the internet or the dubs on Cartoon Network, here's the lowdown. The story revolves around two young brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric. They practice alchemy, or the science of deconstructing and reconstructing matter. The primary law of alchemy is borrowed from physics: to create something, you must give up something of equal value. It's known as the Law of Conservation, or the Principle of Equivalent Trade.

While living in their small town of Rizenbul, their mother tragically passes away. With their father having left them when they were young, the brothers, overcome with grief, decide that they will commit the ultimate sin: they will use alchemy to revive their dead mother.

After reading through all the alchemy books from their father's library and collecting all the ingredients that make the average adult human body, they set their plan in motion. However, their plan goes horribly wrong: Edward loses his arm and his leg, and Alphonse loses his entire body (Edward must bind Alphonse's soul to a suit of armor that was sitting in the laboratory).

Having paid for their sins, Edward and Alphonse go on a quest to find the Philospher's Stone, a device that legends say will allow an alchemist to bypass the Principle of Equivalent Trade. So they leave for their quest, hoping that the Stone will give them back everything they've lost: Edward's limbs, Alphonse's body, and the life of their dead mother.

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Having the pleasure of conversing with my good friend, I realized that I really love Full Metal Alchemist because the journey of the main protagonists does such a wonderful job of illustrating our own struggles and desires to accumulate and profit: our attempts to get more than what we pay for, in spite of the thousands of years of evidence to tell us otherwise. We hope to land that job that pays more with less work, get that good grade with the least amount of studying, find that perfect relationship without even trying. What better place than Las Vegas than to see such attempts in action, where millions come each year hoping to come home with riches for only a few dollars.

Even when we think we do hit it big, the Principle of Equivalent Trade tells us that the price is still paid, even though we may not see it. If someone isn't profiting from what we're paid to do, where does the money come from? If we get that good grade without really trying, what kind of education did we really receive? For every fortune that I won, how many others had to lose? Even if we do find that perfect person and find absolute bliss and joy, all good things must come to an end. And when we do part, whether it's by choice or by force, we pay the price with sadness, pain, and sorrow. The Principle of Equivalent Trade still applies.

So if we believe this law, and that in the end we will never find net gain in whatever we do, why do we continue to live? Why should we even try? I continue to search for the answers...