The head of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to a country with a less-than-noble purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.
On their return, the father asked his son: “How was the trip?”
“It was great, Dad,” the son replied.
“Did you see how poor people live?” the father asked.
“Tell me, what did you learn from the trip?”
The son answered: “I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have a whole galaxy of stars at night.
“Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.
“We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.”
The boy’s father was speechless.
Then, his son added: “Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are.”
这个故事让我想起曾经听过一个关于商人与渔夫的故事，于是我上网搜索，找到了以下这篇文章：
Businessman and the Fisherman
by Mark Albion
A young businessman was at the pier of a small coastal village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Seeing several large yellowfin tuna inside the small boat, the businessman complimented the fisherman on the quality of the fish and asked how long it took to catch them. "Only a little while", the fisherman replied.
A little surprised, the young business man asked, "Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more fish?" The content fisherman said, "This is enough to support my family's immediate needs. I don't need any more." "But what do you do with the rest of your time?" asked the confused young man. "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a walk with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my buddies; I have a full and busy life."
The lad scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise."
The fisherman asked, "How long will this all take?" to which the young man replied, "15-20 years." "But what then?" The business man laughed and said "That's the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."
"Millions, sir? Then what?"
"Then you would retire, move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a walk with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your buddies."
我在网上也找到这个故事的影片，片长大约3分钟：
"The Good Life" Parable
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7JlI959slY
两个故事有一个共同点，都是在探讨：什么是富有？什么是贫穷？富有或贫穷取决于人的心态。常言道：知足常乐，真正的富有不是物质上的拥有，而是精神上的丰足。
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