One Full Circle

Nowadays human always do a lot of things, and thought that they had gone very far. But actually, they end up back to the starting point. This story is one of an example.

An investment banker was on the pier of a small coastal village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. His boat was full of beautiful yellow tuna.

The banker complimented the fisherman on his catch, asking how long it took to catch. The fisherman replied "only a short time."

The banker asked why not stay out and catch more. The fisherman replied, "I've enough fish to feed my family."

The banker then asked what did the fisherman do with the rest of his time?

He replied, "I will sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, stroll into the village each evening, sip wine with my friends, play my guitar, I have a full and busy life."

The banker was not impressed. "I have a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat and from those increased proceeds you could buy several boats and soon have a fleet. Instead of selling your fish to a middleman, you could control production, processing and distribution by building your own cannery. You could leave this small coastal village and move the city then to New York where you could run your expanding enterprise."

The fisherman asked, "How long will this take?"

The banker said, "Ten to 20 years."

"But what then?" asked the fisherman.

"Next you would announce an IPO and sell your stock to the public, making millions and millions. Then you could retire to a small coastal village where you could sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll into the village in the evenings, sip wine and play your guitar with your friends," said the banker smiling.

The fisherman looked puzzled, "I don't understand this, you are suggesting that I should go one big loop so as to end up where I am today, happily fishing on the cliff?"

***

I once heard this saying: "Man spends the first fifty years of their lives, using their health to get wealth, and spends the rest of their lives using their wealth to get back their health." Human's sure have a weird way of prioritizing. Another situation is one where parents work so hard to provide everything for their children, and in the process, neglecting them. They should let go of a bit of their work, make enough to get along, and most importantly, spent time with the children they love so much.