June 28, 2006
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Dream Big?
A bit of humor borrowed from psykomeyeko:
The
American businessman was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village
when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat
were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the
Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch
them.The Mexican replied only a little while.
The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish?
The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.
The American then asked, but what do you do with the rest of your time?
The
Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my
children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each
evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full
and busy life, senor.”The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard
MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the
proceeds buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger boat you
could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing
boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell
directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You
would control the product, processing and distribution.You
would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to
Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your
expanding enterprise.”The Mexican fisherman asked, “But senor, how long will this all take?”
To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”
“But what then, senor?”
The
American laughed and said that’s the best part. When the time is right
you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and
become very rich, you would make millions.“Millions, senor? Then what?”
The
American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing
village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids,
take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where
you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”On
the serious side, the only real problem I have with this picture is,
while the fisherman’s life may be idyllic, what happens to him and his
family if he is injured or gets sick?
Comments (8)
If he is injured, Maria goes man fishing. LOL. I can’t swallow pills well. Glucosamine/chondroitin would be excellent if I could swallow it. That’s my biggest problem. A while back I was supposed to get some Mobic for the joint and bone problem but insurance wouldn’t pay and the pill they gave me in exchange was monstrous. I could do it.
I”m sorry I misunderstood your post about the stage thing but I’m still glad it all worked out.
What happens?? I’ll tell you what happens. The man gets injured. His wife tries to take on the burden of fishing and accidentally falls in to be eaten by a large shark. Then his kids are forced to work in a sweatshop to keep from starving. The man racks up debt in med bills and eventually the kids become indentured slaves and are worked to death in a few years. When the man is all healed up he finds out that hs boat is lost at sea with his wife, his kids are now slaves, and his old “amigos” are too lazy and unwilling to help him. He is then forced to panhandle and is run over by the harvard grad shortly thereafter. He dies a slow and painfull death. The harvard grad is thrown into a harsh mexican prison and forgotten about so he slowly starves to death all alone.
But in the end things are ok for the mexican because he is reunited with his deceased family in the afterlife. His family of course blames him for their untimely fortune and demise and spend the rest of eternity torturing him. Hmmm…. maybe he’s not ok after all. Oh well.
Feces occur.
*heh* Nice finish Zeek!
Fun story.
I try to be a good man…at least I think so
I make no bones about being a Catholic Worker–but I do not(Rphaedrus,check me on this)shove it in people faces either.
I love this story for its simplicity of life. This fisherman brings his heart to his family and friends. I once “had it all”, a $100,000 IRA, $240,000 house, wife, daughter, good car.
I simply do balloons now. Disabled with a broken neck after having been attacked by one of my psychiatric patients. I don’t get out as often as I did, Tuesdays at Half-time and such. No car does that.
In spite of the constant pain and intractible suffering, I still have my heart and think fondly of all my friends;Jewish, Pagan, Muslum, Christian; who’ve gotten me through those Dark Nights of the Soul.
May I do Balloons as this Man fishes. I can tell you after near-death that life is short and the LOVE we find within in so precious.
I hope to see all of you soon. Maybe at a street dance, or Half-time, Kieran’s, or Fest.
Peace and Blessings be with you and yours,
John
http://www.myspace.com/johnpieper
“Love is the Measure”–Dorothy Day, Founder, Catholic Worker Movement
Is it gross enough to make one gag? Like the fizzy junk they make you dunk down before a stomach x-ray? Is it hard on the stomach? Like if you don’t take it with food it’ll cause ulcers?
JHP – check check. Yeah, you generally have the willing to help someone out vibe, but until I started reading your weblog, I didn’t even know you were Catholic.
I’ll be a patron at fest – not sure about the rest thoguh. Maybe Kieran’s from time to time.
- J