Julie and Jenny - A Parable

A rich man had two daughters, called Julie and Jenny. Julie was the oldest and Jenny was adopted. When they grew up to be adults, they wanted their independence, so their father bought them a house to live in. They enjoyed the independence for a while, but they still felt constrained, because their father owned the house. He was a kind man, so he arranged for his solicitor to transfer the legal title for the house into the name of his daughters.

He said to them, “I want to you to be totally free from my control, so I have transferred the legal ownership of the house to you. It is now your house. You are free to do what you like in it. However, you need to understand that you are also responsible for it. Enjoy your freedom, but guard it carefully.” He knew there was a risk, but he had taught them about life and money, so he trusted them.

The two daughters really enjoyed their freedom, but after some time Julie got bored and decided to leave home and travel overseas. Jenny was left with a house to herself.

One day Jenny heard Mr Banker advertising on the radio, “You will have just received the new government valuation for your property. I can show you how to use the increase in equity for your benefit.” Jenny thought that this sounded pretty good, so she contacted Mr Banker. He agreed to loan her $500,000 and took out a mortgage over the property. Jenny had a great time with the money and lots of friends, but eventually the money was gone. Jenny was unable to pay her interest, so Mr Banker foreclosed on the mortgage and sold the property in a mortgagee sale.

The new owner of the property was Mr Saddun. He could have forced her to leave, but he said she could continue to live in large hall cupboard. He then rented the rest of the house to three families of gang associates.

Life for Jenny was soon absolutely miserable. Her new neighbors invited all their friends around and gradually started wrecking the house. Jenny was stuck with people she hated in a house she loved that was being trashed.

When Jenny’s friends heard what had happened, they were shocked. Some said that Jenny had been stupid; but that would not be a very good ending to a story. Some said that Mr Saddun was cruel and mercenary, but everyone knew that already. He said that he was generous, because he could have thrown her out of the house.

Many people said that Jenny’s father should have done something to prevent the tragedy. “Why did he allow it?” they said. But what could he do? He had given legal title over the house to his daughters, so he had no legal right to prevent the mortgage or the sale. Some might say that he made a mistake in giving the girls their freedom. Perhaps he should have retained legal ownership of the house, but then his girls would not have been totally free.

When Jenny’s father heard what had happened, he wept, because he loved his daughter. He had known the risk when he gave her the house that things could go wrong, but he had chosen to give her freedom, so she would grow to maturity.