The tredmill
I am slowly starting to dislike the tredmill that society expects me to walk on with working hard to become more successfull, richer, someone who "succeeded in life".
I ran into this story that illustrates my feelings quite well:
An American businessman stood by the pier of a little Mexican fishing village watching as little boat moored on. In the boat lay some large yellow tuna. The American complimented the Mexican with his catch and asked him how long it had taken to catch the fish.
The Mexican answered, “Only a short time.”
The American continued to ask, “Why did you not stay longer at sea so you could catch more fish?”
“The fishes I have caught are ample to feed my family.” answered the Mexican.
“But” said the American “what do you do for the rest of the day?”
The Mexican fisherman said “In the morning I lie in, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, in the evening I go to the village and drink some wine and play guitar with my friends, I actually have quite a lot to do during the day.”
The American said, “I have studied at Harvard and I can help you. Every day you should fish longer and buy a larger boat with the profit. You can invest the excess profit in more boats; eventually you will have a whole fishing fleet. Whereupon you can buy a fish processing factory. In this way you can control the whole product, the manufacturing process and the distribution. You move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles and eventually New York. From there you can still manage your ever growing company.”
The Mexican asked, “But how long will that take?”
The American answered “15 to 20 years.”
“What then?” asked the Mexican
The American laughed and said “That is just the beauty, when the time is ripe you give out shares and sell them on the stock exchange and you will become rich, you will earn millions.”
“Millions?…………and then what?” asked the Mexican.
The American said, “Then you can retire. You can move to a small coastal village where every morning you can lie in, play with your kids, siesta with your wife, go to the village in the evening to drink wine and play guitar with your friends.”
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