A boat docked in a tiny Greek village. An American tourist complimented the Greek fisherman on the quality of his fish & asked how long it took him to catch them.

‘Not very long’ answered the Greek.

‘But then, why didn’t you stay out longer & catch more?’ asked the American.

The Greek explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs & those of his family.

The American asked ‘But what do you do with the rest of your time?’

‘I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, & take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings I go into the village to see my friends, dance a little, play the bouzouki, & sing a few songs. I have a full life.’

The American interrupted ‘I have a MBA from Harvard & I can help you. You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the revenue, you can buy a bigger boat. With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one & a third one & so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middleman, you can negotiate directly with the processing plants & maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village & move to Athens, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge enterprise.’

‘How long would that take?’ asked the Greek.

‘Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years’ replied the American.

‘And after that?’

‘Afterwards? That’s when it gets really interesting,’ answered the American, laughing ‘when your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks & make millions!’

‘Millions? Really? And after that?’

‘After that you’ll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your grandchildren, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife, & spend your evenings singing, dancing, & playing the bouzouki with your friends.’

There ends this lesson in philosophy.

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