The industrialist said to the fisherman, “Why are you napping under a tree?” “Because I’ve caught enough fish for the day.” “Why don’t you catch more?” “Why would I do that?” “So you can buy more nets, a bigger boat, go out into deeper waters, then buy a whole fleet of boats and be rich like me.” “Then what?” “Well, then you can enjoy life.” The fisherman: “What do you think I’m doing now?”
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6 comments
Love this.
That’s some really valuable life advice.
Not to be a “Debbie Downer” but this might work in a ‘steady state’ economy, where there is always enough supply to meet demand. I liked this story as a kid but you start seeing holes when you get older and wiser.
What if China shows up and starts illegally fishing off your shores (as it’s doing now to some nations) and they don’t believe in sustainability but greed. Soon that subsistence fisherman will be starving to death, while the rich guy will fly off somewhere else and be just fine.
In a sense those of us who are wage-slaves are like that fisherman…if we lose our jobs we’re in a pickle. So long as money exists, the more you have the better off you’ll be-in any economy.
I think the point is that the fisherman finds peace in life just as things are, and just as he is. While the industrialist has all the money in the world and still cant understand why he feels so unfulfilled and empty.
If you want to look at it your way though, it works both ways. Money can be gone in an instant. The man’s stock crashes, his factories no longer meet safety standards and shut down, and the workers sue him. Whatever else might happen.
“The entire world is ending tomorrow. What are you going to do?” “Hmm. I’m going to lay under this tree some more”.
What a humble fisherman! But bad because he caught my friends >:c
I was honestly thinking about changing the person’s profession, to something other than a fisherman.. just because of you haha. But it felt weird to alter someone else’s words