The American banker and the Mexican fisherman are metaphors for American industriousness and the reason why America is a better place to live.
The idealic life of just catching a handful of fish and living a happy care free life that's equal with the American's is crazy. The fisherman in reality scrapes together a small living for his family. He lives in a chrime stricken community in a tiny house because that's all he can afford. Instead of getting a better job to provide a better life, there are no jobs, so he gets drunk with his buddies. And in a few years, a storm will sweep him out to sea and because he's just a poor fisherman, his family loses what little they had. His children have no opportunities and are forced to work low paying jobs becauase they can't afford a good education.
The American is lives wherever he wants, has the best healthcare, doesn't have to worry if something happens to him how his family is going to survive, his kids can get the best education....on and on.
I'd really rather be the banker!!
But if the fisherman chartered his boat out to american banker sport fisherman, he could still have to catch only a few fish and make a lot more
Exactly, and the fisherman won't be able to help pay for his children to get a good education. It would be sad if one of his children really wants to be become a doctor etc.
Exactly, and the fisherman won't be able to help pay for his children to get a good education. It would be sad if one of his children really wants to be become a doctor etc.
in the story of my life, Maria leaves - arguably for this very reason
Banker:
Smart enough to get into Harvard and graduate.
Someone paid a chunk of money for him to acquire that degree (In 2011 a Harvard MBA cost with tuition and fees now almost $160,000 for a 2 year course)
Parlayed his education into a high paying job.
Could afford a vacation to a Mexican coastal town
Complimented the fisherman ( has manners)
Offered to give free business advice to the fisherman (without asking for a cut) after he knew the man had a wife and kids and no job security.
Offered the Mexican a way to get to live and work in the USA legally.
Offered a realistic 20 year plan to give the fisherman a multi-million dollar retirement fund - a man who has children young enough to play with.
Fisherman:
Has a family yet spends most of his time sleeping, playing, drinking, hanging out with the boys and thinks he has a busy life.
Moral of the story:
Work before play. A man with a family needs to provide for their long term needs and stay home, hang out with his wife and set a good example for his children. Working hard, sharing the wealth by creating jobs, then enjoying the fruits of his labour without becoming a burden on society should be his goal. Unless Maria writes a best selling cookbook "Mastering the Art of Cooking Yellowfin Tuna" this story will have an unfortunate ending. Laziness never equals success.
I have read this story before - it is all over the internet - and understand we are supposed to believe the fisherman is the successful one and he has taught the banker a valuable lesson to live the life you want now.
"The parable of the Mexican Fisherman and the banker teaches that happiness is more than money and freedom isn't just financial."
It doesn't resonate with me; actually it reminds me of many incidents from my life:
-working for the Federal Government, in 1981, as a proof reader and not getting the required silence because most of my co-workers were talking knowing they could pretend to be working and get their paycheque but finding time to quiz me on why I worked so hard. I thought it was stealing to take money for work I didn't do. I was not a thief and trading my brainpower for dollars for 37 hours a week was not too difficult. I was in the minority then, and maybe now, but justifing laziness and calling selfish people "happy" is not my way of thinking.
- having a conversation with my sister-in-law (in 1999) about the benefits of buying a bargain home and paying the mortgage off quickly instead of getting the dream house and having a lifelong monster of a mortgage. She lived in a rented apt. and paid the same amount monthly as we did for our mortgage but she scoffed at my frugal thinking.
Her retirement plan was going to be the inheritence from her parents. In 2002, we bought a better bargain home with the proceeds from the sale of the "shack" we lived in and it had doubled in value the same year my SIL returned her key to the landlord and married a man she didn't love because he owned a house.
I haven't won the lottery so I live within my means and have to go to work to get those means. Working is easy - fulfillment is my goal and is the main reason I joined this website to search for the answer.
^i had the expensive education, house in the city, mortgage, sports cars, etc. i worked very hard, did all the things that were expected of me, climbed to the top of my career, had a big office and some measure of power and prestige. i was, by your defintion, "successful"
so why was no one happy? why did i lose my wife and family, everything i had, everyone i loved, and end up with nothing in the end?
My defintion of "successful" is not what you described. I did not say accumulating a high net worth was important. Working, living within one's means, buying only what you can afford, having a rainy day fund and (for woman) having "walk away" money, gives one the freedom to make choices. Being self sufficent is success especially for women.
As a woman I look at this story from a different angle and illustrates the casual sexist attitude of two men; when neither of them consider involving Maria in the decision making. My guess is she works a lot harder than hubby, for no pay, and stays home when he abandons her and the kids to drink and hang out with the boys on a daily basis. She is there for "siesta" time, of course. Most women would not tolerate that.
If one day, the fisherman doesn't catch any tuna or his boat breaks and he has no money for his wine; poor Maria might be the one who pays the price for his selfish, lazy, immature, macho attitude. She would have no money of her own; therefore she has no options.
Does she have the choice of hanging out at a bar with the girlfriends on a nightly basis while hubby stays home with the kids? If she is not allowed the same freedoms as her husband -that is sexism.
^we all carry our own baggage with us. you seem to be concentrating on the "amigos" part and missing the fact that he mentions spending his time with his wife and kids in the same sentence instead of making money, which is hugely significant - the banker only suggests he do that AFTER he has made his fortune, rather than before
the parable was obviously written within the context of the male-oriented business world and was intended to address ideals of success and fulfillment that are prevelant within that context
perhaps it would be constructive to write a different version from a woman's perspective
i'm a fisherwoman killing myself to just get my foot in the door to being remotely "successful"... i don't know why i am doing this. fear. fear of not having health benefits. i don't even HAVE health benefits yet and i work my *ss off full time . but i am just "a temp." and they are in a "hiring freeze." such a crock. i loathe this system. why do i continue to play into it?
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