I thought it would be fun to reimagine the parable of the prodigal son with a Prodigal Daughter. There was a man who had two daughters. The younger one said to her father. “I don’t want to wait until you die to inherit my share of your wealth. Give me now what you would have paid to send me to college and graduate school.
Not long after that, the Father divided his property between his two daughters. Soon, the youngest got together her share and sold it at a loss for ready cash. Then she packed her belongings and flew to Club Med .
There she squandered all her wealth on gambling, men, and rich living. Soon there was a severe recession. The tourist business was off, and the only job she could get was as a topless waitress in a sleazy bar. She barely made enough in tips to get by and often ate leftover h’dourves for dinner. Because her health was failing she was afraid she would lose even this job.
When she came to her senses, she thought to herself, “The maid and the cook in my father’s house are paid better and live more comfortably than I. They don’t have to be embarrassed or pinched every night in a smoke filled, disgusting bar! I will go to my father and say, ‘Father I have sinned against heaven and against you and I am no longer worthy to be called your daughter. Make me like one of your hired help.’
So she got herself together, stowed away on a cargo ship bound for the states and made her way home.
While she was yet walking up the street to her home, looking tired, dirty and worn, her father saw her coming from his dressing room window. Running from the house in stocking feet, he rushed to her side.
The daughter said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you . I am no longer worthy to be called your daughter.”
But the Father said to his executive assistant, who had followed him into the street, “Bring the best fur coat from the hall closet. Get the Bank America Card, I have kept in her name, from my desk. Get the diamond ring from the hall safe and the leather slippers from under my bed . Call the caterers, hire a band, and invite the neighbors. Let’s celebrate with a great party, for this daughter of mine was dead and is now alive again.
Meanwhile, the older sister was at the family firm in her First Vice President’s office, when the phones began to ring and the secretaries took an early afternoon coffee break. She called in her secretary and asked what all the fuss was. She replied, “Your sister has come home and your father is throwing a party. He has hired a band and a caterer and has told us to close the office early.
The older sister refused to go home. The father came into the office to plead with her. But she answered, “Look, all these years, I have slaved for you. I went to Smith and graduated Magna Cum Laude. Then I went straight to Harvard, for my MBA. I practically run the family business by myself, no thanks to your daughter, who squandered half of the assets! You never gave me a party, to celebrate with my friends. But ,when this daughter of yours, who took your money, and gambled it away, who has disgraced the family name with every bum in the Mediterranean, when this daughter of yours comes home, you throw a party bigger than this city has seen in ten years ! Il
“My daughter” said the father, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate, because this sister of yours was dead and is alive again. She was lost and found.”