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One day a fisherman was lying on a beautiful beach, with his fishing pole propped up in the sand and his solitary line cast out into the sparkling blue surf. He
by swyx 4y ago
One day a fisherman was lying on a beautiful beach, with his fishing pole propped up in the sand and his solitary line cast out into the sparkling blue surf. He was enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and the prospect of catching a fish.
About that time, a businessman came walking down the beach trying to relieve some of the stress of his workday. He noticed the fisherman sitting on the beach and decided to find out why this fisherman was fishing instead of working harder to make a living for himself and his family. “You aren’t going to catch many fish that way,” said the businessman. “You should be working rather than lying on the beach!”
The fisherman looked up at the businessman, smiled and replied, “And what will my reward be?”
“Well, you can get bigger nets and catch more fish!” was the businessman’s answer.
“And then what will my reward be?” asked the fisherman, still smiling.
The businessman replied, “You will make money and you’ll be able to buy a boat, which will then result in larger catches of fish!”
“And then what will my reward be?” asked the fisherman again.
The businessman was beginning to get a little irritated with the fisherman’s questions. “You can buy a bigger boat, and hire some people to work for you!” he said.
“And then what will my reward be?” repeated the fisherman.
The businessman was getting angry. “Don’t you understand? You can build up a fleet of fishing boats, sail all over the world, and let all your employees catch fish for you!”
Once again the fisherman asked, “And then what will my reward be?”
The businessman was red with rage and shouted at the fisherman, “Don’t you understand that you can become so rich that you will never have to work for your living again! You can spend all the rest of your days sitting on this beach, looking at the sunset. You won’t have a care in the world!”
The fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said, “And what do you think I’m doing right now?”
- quonn 4y agoFittingly named the "Anecdote on Lowering the work ethic".
- Dudeman112 4y agoThe problem being, of course, that if the rolls of the die are ever slightly unfavourable life without funds will be really miserable Oddly enough people mentioning that parable never actually spend their days lazily on the beach. People who don't put their money where their mouth is always rouse my inner cynic One never quite values money until they can't afford to pay for the roof above their heads or the meds that keeps them alive
- maccard 4y ago> Oddly enough people mentioning that parable never actually spend their days lazily on the beach. People who don't put their money where their mouth is always rouse my inner cynic I work from home for a small company with people I like, I get to spend my day with my partner and dog, get out walking every day, have time (and money) for the hobbies and activities that I and we want to do. I don't need to climb and push harder to achieve the life that I want, because I'm content with what I have and where I'm going.
- throwawayarnty 4y agoIt’s great but what if the small company gets outcompeted by a competitor? Or management changes and environment deteriorates? You lose your steady salary, and if you don’t push hard to achieve then when you try to look for new jobs you find you are outcompeted or your skills outdated. If might sound dumb to work hard to achieve but those people at the top have very little trouble finding jobs, ie they are not as dependent on a specific company to make a living.
- maccard 4y agoWhat if the big company decides that mass layoffs are happening, or cancels your project? What if investors lose confidence and my division is folded into another and I'm stuck competing with another person with the same qualifications as me for one role? > you don’t push hard to achieve then when you try to look for new jobs you find you are outcompeted or your skills outdated. Who said I don't work hard, or that my skills are outdated? I can work hard and keep up to date without chasing the next step and forgetting about what I already have. It doesn't really matter what jobs there are in the future if I get too burned out on my current job, for example.
- Dudeman112 4y ago>Who said I don't work hard You're the businessman after succeeding with his plan, not the fisherman
- noisy_boy 4y agoAnd the businessman said, "Gotcha. Now imagine your doctor telling you that you have a disease and in order to continue to live this carefree life, you need a million dollars for the surgery..."
- HWR_14 4y agoJokes on you, the fisherman isn't in the US so he has universal healthcare.
- eklavya 4y agoHmm, so how many of these fishermen can the system (other people) pay for?
- eklavya 4y agoDownvoters should at least explain, who pays the taxes for the universal healthcare, this fisherman lifestyle sure can’t.
- imafish 4y agoWorking people pay the taxes. As in most other systems.
- GrigoriyMikh 4y agoShouldn't working people have more benefits/be prioritized in this case?
- HWR_14 4y agoA lot. Countries tend to be fairly wealthy and have a large taxbase of non-fishermen
- eklavya 4y agoExactly, and if we keep idolising "the fisherman", the system becomes unstable. Also why would anybody? It's essentially stealing from other people. A welfare state should strive to provide for those who can't, not those who won't. Before you misunderstand, I am totally in favour of universal healthcare, my country (India) has it. Pretty sure if we can afford it with a population of our size, the wealthy nations sure can.
- spacechild1 4y agoHeinrich Böll https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anekdote_zur_Senkung_der_Arbeitsmoral https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anekdote_zur_Senkung_der_Arb...
- sfg 4y agoThe fisherman seems to like his life, but I'd find it tedious. Plus, if everyone lived the life of the fisherman, then we'd find it difficult to maintain all the things our society provides. Maybe that would be better, but I doubt it. Looking at the Jupiter CEO, his retirement sounds dull, although spending time with parents before they go sounds good. Still, I'd need to do more than sit on a beach.
- jhugo 4y agoYou can do a lot while sitting on a beach.
- sfg 4y agoI've sat on a beach. It isn't for me.
- slothtrop 4y agoIf people valued that care-free lifestyle so much, they'd adopt it. It's possible to get by in Western society doing virtually nothing, if you're willing to sacrifice some comforts. People largely don't care to. More to the point, no one likes feeling stagnant, lost, completely unproductive. There are endless anecdotes to this point among those who've taken the FIRE approach. One guy's partner left him saying she felt "left behind" in their early retirement, despite ostensibly not caring about niceties like a house. They could be as "creative" as they want all day, but that wasn't what was lacking. It's not really about the "stuff" accumulated, it's the reward of work itself. Mainly, a sense of meaning and social validation. You can quibble over the possibility of being "productive" without a job, but most people don't want to be fucking artisans - they want to get things done and feel useful. We're not all wired to be painters, make pointless software or boutique furniture out of our own volition. If you tell us someone needs to cut these pieces of wood and nail them, someone needs to teach, someone needs to clean, someone needs to fix this bug and ship this software, and banter all the while, and you get paid for the privilege, that's easily more motivating for most people.
- zw123456 4y agoWonderful parable. But both the fisherman and businessman focus on the reward for themself. I don't have a parable, but for me, my reward has been sharing what I have with others.