I dont know who

wrote this but i read it somewhere and it made sense,read it or dont.

A tourist boat arrived in a small fishing village
A tourist complimented the local fishermen on the quality of their fish and asked how long it took to catch them."Not very long" they answered
"Why didnt you stay out longer and catch more" asked the tourist
The fishermen explained that their small catches were sufficient to meet their needs and those of their families.
"But what do you do with the rest of your time"asked the tourist
"We sleep late ,fish a little ,play with our children, and take a siesta with our wives.In the evenings we go into the village to see our friends ,have a few drinks,play the guitar,sing a few songs.We have a full life"
The tourist interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat."
"And after that?"
"With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave thislittle village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise."
"How long would that take?"
"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years." replied the tourist.

"And after that?"

"Afterwards? Well my friend, that's when it gets really interesting, " answered the tourist, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!"
"Millions? Really? And after that?" asked the fishermen.

"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."

"With all due respect Sir, but that's exactly what we are doing now. So what's the point of wasting twenty-five years?" asked the fishermen

And the moral of this story is:

Know where you're going in life . . . you may already be there!

How odd that this little story hits home! I do have to remind myself of this simple truth from time to time.

Whenever I am feeling a little angst I stop and assess the good things in my daily life that I am forgetting to appreciate. I am getting pretty good at just enjoying the moment.

It gets a bit tricky tho when absolutely everybody around you seems to be rushing about spending a great deal of energy trying to get "somewhere else" in their life. Its a bit contagious and you feel guilty for not being in the same mad rush to go no-where.

Now if only my setting was the tropical isle it would be perfect. Alas it is not, but anywhere can be good or bad -- it just depends on your peace of mind.

A very wise fisherman

It's just so very true....

reply to post by 12voltz


Good Story OP,

I thought the Fisherman had a very good point when he had stated that he only caught as much Fish as he needed and then had time to enjoy the remainder of the day as well as his LIFE.

Meaning He actually had a life outside of his work, and as a result he already had a life he enjoyed living without the pressure to need more and more as we are taught in our western society today.

reply to post by nh_ee

I thought the Fisherman had a very good point when he had stated that he only caught as much Fish as he needed and then had time to enjoy the remainder of the day as well as his LIFE.

Oh my God, I think this makes you a dissident revolutionary; maybe even a potential terrorist!

This simple point is so lost on most people in the modern world. I think its a charm. The problem I am having is that I have to spend all this idle time by myself because all my friends are busy chasing the rainbow.

By the way, I am not a ne're-do-well. I just took early retirement realizing that there was little to gain from continuing on the tread wheel, but lots to gain from getting off of it.

reply to post by 12voltz


Wow that was frickin' awesome haha...very vividly exposes the hollow and shallow western capitalist mentality.

i wish i read this before i threw my future away

Thank you for that. It kind of puts things into perspective. We all get bogged down by life, work, obligations, so is nice to read something like this once in while. Blessings to all.

very nice little story which has lots of meanings , thank God im living the same way therefore i dont have to regret any thing.

thanx for sharing 12voltz

Thanks for posting this.

I read that story about five years ago on a tourist info page for Belize. Since then I have tried to find that story to no avail.

Good story Keep things in perspective in your life's path. Do not fall for all the glitter. Keep it real!

for those that may not remember, this is from an episode of "the simpsons" when homer makes a false pledge to pbs and betty white. he has to leave the country so the priest puts him on a plane to be a missionary on a tropical island. he ruins their community by introducing alchohol and gambling, and says "gamble so you can get rich and retire in a tropical paradise". the irony being they were already in paradise before he got there. still a good story though.

Great story !

I heard it from Jim Marrs when he was interviewed by Project Camelot about his book " The fourth Reich"

Edit:

After re-reading it is exactly what Jim Marrs said word for word.....



[edit on 22-8-2010 by Monte-Carlo]

This story is so true, and I've experienced it a few times in daily life. Sure, the people that don't have a professional education may not be a 'smart' as some of us, but they are wiser.

I hope one day I can actually live like that, but out in the country. I'm not much for island living, I like the trees and open land. So, if I can hunt for two or three hours a day, and spend the rest with family, I would be a happy little Seitler! One day I'll have this life... some day!

reply to post by 12voltz


YEEEE frikin HAHAAAAA. Awesome post. But......why didnt the tourist mention the many uses of the millions, such as helping eliminate poverty, sickness, and disease around the globe? Probably because he or she was a greedy tourist, most likely. Great sentiment but idealistic at best. Its great for those who are afforded the necessities and are content , but what of those who arent so lucky. Oh my bad I forgot that all the major religions have a clause for this, for example..there will allways be wars and rumors of wars..there will allways be the poor among you...so world religion is built on justification and rationalization...as we all know these are an addicts best friend. We are addicted to chaos. Any attempt to satisfy our addiction is just treating one drug with another. How is that supposed to work?

reply to post by 12voltz


When will people get down from the clouds?...

Please do tell me, and show me where in the world people do this...

Please do show us where we can move to live in a place where people don't have to do much work to be able to live a full life...

Seriously.. WHERE can I move where they will give me FREE a parcel of land, i would be more than content with 40 acres of FREE land...

Show me where I can go and get FREE all the materials I will need to build my house in this new place, and to have people with knowledge help me build the house for free...

Show me where I can go and have FREE electricity all year around. At the very least I will need light, and to live in a place where it NEVER gets too hot or too cold, otherwise my family and myself will NEED AC and a heater...

Please show me a place where all my waste, and I am not talking about plastic bottles but the waste that comes from my rear end and front end, will be sent through the FREE plumbing to a place where it will be processed for FREE...

Please show me a place where i can get a few drinks for FREE, and where i can stay for FREE with a few friends and enjoy the evening...

Please show me a place where all my nutritional needs, and those of my family, are met by only eating fish...

I don't believe in living beyond my means. I also don't believe in expending lots of money to live my life, but I do know that somehow people need to work for several hours a day to make a living, unless they are truly disabled.

Unless you show me such a place I have to say this is nothing more than the lunatic ramblings of someone who doesn't know what it takes to live ANYWHERE in this world...



[edit on 22-8-2010 by ElectricUniverse]

reply to post by 12voltz


Nice story.
It reminded me of a famous passage in Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince. I don't know if the English translation is any good - this passage I found seems to be OK - but it's a book many here would like, I am sure.

Good morning," said the little prince.
"Good morning," said the merchant.
This was a merchant who sold pills that had been invented to quench thirst. You need only swallow one pill a week, and you would feel no need of anything to drink.

"Why are you selling those?" asked the little prince.
"Because they save a tremendous amount of time," said the merchant. "Computations have been made by experts. With these pills, you save fifty-three minutes in every week."
"And what do I do with those fifty-three minutes?"
"Anything you like..."
"As for me," said the little prince to himself, "if I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked, I should walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water."

www.srogers.com...

I like this story. Reminds me of what I always say to people who are getting depressed about their lives...

Don't take anything for granted, take pleasure in the simple things. Live in the present, plan for the future, and learn from the past.

I think I made that up, but I could be wrong.

star, flagged and friended!
that's how life is meant to be, not the slavery we are forced upon.

Originally posted by rufusdrak

Wow that was frickin' awesome haha...very vividly exposes the hollow and shallow western capitalist mentality.

As oposed to the life in a western socialist state like maybe the UK?...

Or as oposed to the socialist/communist states/nations like the former U.S.S.R., Vietnam, Cuba, and China?...

I have to wonder why is that MOSTLY the ONLY people who ever make this sort of claim, that western socialism or even eastern socialism gives a free life that everyone gets to enjoy without doing much, comes from people who HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED LIFE IN COUNTRIES WHERE SOCIALISM/COMMUNISM HAS BEEN EMBRACED...