Less Is More

[RoyDalParticipant]

Less Is More

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. The American tourist standing nearby complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

“Not very long,” answered the Mexican.

“But then, why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?” asked the American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and 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, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go to the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs … I have a full life.”

The American interrupted. “I’d like to give you some advice. I’m a manager with GE, have an MBA from Harvard, and I can help you! If you start fishing longer every day, you can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat. With the extra money the large boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and 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, and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge enterprise.”

“How long would that take?” asked the Mexican.

“Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years,” replied the American.

“And after that?”

“Afterward? That’s when it gets interesting,” answered the American, laughing. “When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and 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 children, catch a few fish, take a siesta, and spend your evenings drinking with and enjoying your friends!”

— Bernstein, Josh. Digging for the Truth. Gotham Books (Penguin), NY; 2006. Page 17.

Society asks MGTOWs: Why are you not making more tax-slaves?

[Silverstone the SecondParticipant]

You really have to think about the end game. Time is short in this world, and you can either spend life how you want or doing something else. Live life for you, no matter if you make 20 grand a year or 200 grand, live life how you want. When the big game of chess is over, both kings and pawns go into the box.

Feminism is a movement where opinions are presented as facts and emotions are presented as evidence.

[Mr. ManParticipant 2916]

I love this story! I’ve read it at least a dozen times before, and each time it’s just as powerful as the first.

So let me ask you, RoyDal (and everyone else), have you found your tiny village on the coast? Are you happy where you are?

[MyCocaineKeymaster 182]

Never heard that one before. Thank you!

[MENGINEERParticipant 583]

Great short story.

My dream is to live on a desolate beach with my dog..

[HitmanParticipant]

well done RoyDal..
i never read that and it resonates ….
i’m ALMOST in the little village described..
gotta hang tight a while before i can live there full time..

[experiencedParticipant]

RoyDal wrote:

Less Is More

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. The American tourist standing nearby complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

“Not very long,” answered the Mexican.

“But then, why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more?” asked the American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and 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, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go to the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs … I have a full life.”

The American interrupted. “I’d like to give you some advice. I’m a manager with GE, have an MBA from Harvard, and I can help you! If you start fishing longer every day, you can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat. With the extra money the large boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and 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, and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge enterprise.” [[[[and at your peak your wife will divorce you and attempt successfully to take all your wealth]]]

“How long would that take?” asked the Mexican.

“Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years,” replied the American.

“And after that?”

“Afterward? That’s when it gets interesting,” answered the American, laughing. “When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and 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 children, catch a few fish, take a siesta, and spend your evenings drinking with and enjoying your friends!”

— Bernstein, Josh. Digging for the Truth. Gotham Books (Penguin), NY; 2006. Page 17.

"It seems like there's times a body gets struck down so low, there ain't a power on earth that can ever bring him up again. Seems like something inside dies so he don't even want to get up again. But he does."

[BeerParticipant 11832]

Nice story. I reached this realization a couple years ago, and a lot of my coworkers seem like the American guy while I’m the Mexican lol. They’ll waste tens of thousands of dollars a year for taxes, insurance, and maintenance on a big fancy house and multiple cars they never really get to enjoy because they’re working all the time to pay for them, and wonder why I’m not buying the same s~~~ they buy. Meanwhile I’m stacking that tens of thousands of dollars in investments.

It just seems like such a pointless quest to acquire a ton of s~~~…its just more s~~~ you have to pay for and more s~~~ you have to take care of…I’d rather just avoid that whole game and enjoy more time relaxing in the tiny village on the coast.

[StandUpGuyParticipant 334]

Forgive me for being an old Unix geek; less is more you but can edit with less.

[VeniversumParticipant 492]

Excellent post.

[Enjoy The DeclineParticipant 1719]

Veniversum wrote:

Excellent post.

Veniversum, sorry for the awkwardness but it is nice to see you around again. I really believe that you bring something to these forums, seeing that you are probably the most deepest thinker as well as a person with the greatest range of vocabulary that I ever saw on this site. I just hope that you read this post.

"Question everything" - Albert Einstein

[Enjoy The DeclineParticipant 1719]

Looks like no one is replying to this great topic after my post that was off topic. I would like to point out that I did read the story that Roydal posted and what a great story it is. Thanks for showing such a insightful parable. I am just thinking constantly so much about my past and future and I guess that this is one of those parables I need to help me get going in my life that I wish to have. Thanks for sharing.

"Question everything" - Albert Einstein

[Tbowden1Participant 195]

It’s amazing how true this is.. I’ve continued to make great progress in my career as my salary increases, but the greatest feeling of accomplishment I’ve gotten is to be debt free. Living a life with zero pressure to pay anything more than basic utilities is an amazing feeling. I’m not exactly on a beach as the story would describe, but I am living a peaceful life.

[SimpleLifeParticipant 439]

Yes. Debt is indeed slavery.

[RusskyParticipant 13503]

SimpleLife wrote:

Yes. Debt is indeed slavery.

“virtual slavery” would be a better description, because it is only slavery if you buy into it
it’s like that picture of a horse tied to a plastic lawn chair

proud carrier of the 'why?' chromosome

[Oz-BlokeParticipant 3233]

Unfortunately the ‘less is more’ approach is often adopted by single-mothers. The less paid work they do, the more the male taxpayer steps in to subsidize their lifestyle –

Where’s the incentive for single mothers to quadruple their work-effort for less than an extra $2,000 income a year? Fortunately women have enough men slaving away on the plantation to fund this welfare mentality (for now). All part of the Vagina Monetization Scam (VMS).

#ManOut

[LeoParticipant 25]

I have just read “Less is More” story and I think it is amazing, I will definitely remember it. It really makes me think who can we really call rich and who can we call poor in this world…

Of course I mean Mexican fisherman’s approach, not single mother’s lifestyle :/

[experiencedParticipant]

http://biblehub.com/proverbs/22-7.htm

"It seems like there's times a body gets struck down so low, there ain't a power on earth that can ever bring him up again. Seems like something inside dies so he don't even want to get up again. But he does."

[BeerParticipant 11832]

Oz-Bloke wrote:

Where’s the incentive for single mothers to quadruple their work-effort for less than an extra $2,000 income a year?

Its the same here in the states as well. People qualify for welfare programs that phase out as their income rises. If for ever dollar you make over some phase out limit, they maybe cut out 50 cents worth of welfare money and tax you 20 cents…wtf is the point of showing up to work? If you make 10 dollars an hour because your income is probably low to begin with, you literally go in for 3 bucks an hour…not even worth the gas/bus money to commute or wasting a day…you are just so much better off enjoying the time off as and extra 25 bucks really isn’t going to impact your quality of life much, or you could just do something under the table. Its not like its incredible hard to find an old person that will pay you do do lawn work or other minor tasks for them.

I used to work with a woman that had 5 kids to 5 different baby daddies. I worked with her on and off for 3 years. She would literally come to work for the first half of the year, make up to whatever the limit was her phase out began, then quit. She’d be back early the next year looking for her job back, and they’d hire her back because she was a good worker. She didn’t even try to hide what she was doing, and she flat out said “I plan on having a baby every 2 years until my ovaries dry up.” It was disgusting, and as a tax paying citizen our only option is to shut our mouth and support such behavior. The sick part is she probably ended up with 7 or 8 kids, I haven’t seen her in years…and that is 7 or 8 kids that are all probably going to grow up being dead beat dads and welfare moms just like her and their baby daddies because that was the norm they saw while growing up. The trash is breeding exponentially while the normal hard working people probably aren’t even reproducing enough to replenish their numbers as they can’t afford it…and people wonder why society is swirling down the toilet.

[Blue SkiesParticipant 15665]

fantastic story. thanks for sharing!

MGTOW is not a movement, it is a way of life.

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