The first thing that came to mind with this meme was the biblical parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1‑16). For me at least it contains a very similar dynamic. The landowner hires labourers at different hours of the day but agrees with each of them on a denarius as a fair wage. At the end of the day the early labourers grumble when they realise that those who came later are being paid the same, even though they themselves received exactly what they agreed to. Scripture notes that “on receiving their pay, they began to grumble against the landowner” , saying that those hired last “worked only one hour” yet were made “equal to us who have borne the burden of the day” . The landowner replies: “Take your pay and go. I want to give this last man the same as I gave you”  and asks, “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?” .
Both stories illustrate a tendency to perceive others’ blessings as undeserved. In the meme, the late buyer resents the earlier investor’s outsized gains and dismisses them as pure luck, ignoring the fact that they willingly declined the exact same opportunity. In the parable, the early workers complain that the landowner is unfair, even though they received the promised wage; their complaint is rooted not in injustice but in envy of generosity . The landowner’s rebuke, “are you envious because I am generous?” reminds the reader that grace is not earned by our efforts or even our seniority. Similarly, people who decline risky opportunities and later resent others’ gains are really wrestling with their own choices, not with the supposed unfairness of outcomes.
