Exactly. There is a story my father told me... well told me over and over.
There was a man from Johannesburg who went to the West Coast for a holiday to do fishing. (West Coast of South Africa is visited by tourists every year.)
And on the beach he met a local fisherman, standing by the rocks with his own rod. The fisherman had an old rod and the man from Johannesburg has a shiny new set of gear that cost him thousands of Rands.
Regardless the two of them had a great time chatting as they did their fishing. As normal, talk drifted towards money and the businessman heard that the fisherman had no job. He had no car and didnt have the means to buy a new one.
So the businessman said to the fisherman. "I have a big business in Johannesburg. You can come with me and I will give you a job. Work you way up the corporate ladder and you can be a manager or even a partner in the company. You will be very rich."
The fisherman thought about this and asked. "So after years of work I would have a lot of money?" The businessman agreed and the fisherman asked. "Once you have so much money and you want to retire. What would you do?"
The businessman thought about it and said. "Well I would get a house by the sea and I will likely spend every day just drinking wine and fishing."
To this the fisherman replied. "I already have all that. I fish enough to trade in for a few Rands for my red wine and a couple groceries and my wife and I eat a lot of fish."
My father would usually conclude this by explaining exactly what it all meant but I am sure you get it. Sometimes living simple is living exactly how you would dream to do it. But with extra steps in a corporate ladder and rat-race.
What traps Mankind make for ourselves!
Beautiful story, your father sounds like an awesome person. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to re-tell this story here. It deserves a post of it's own. Perhaps you could do a post on more dad stories? I really connected to this. Money is not the only wealth you can have and a lot of people don't realise that. Of course, I'm lucky that i have the privilege of working on land like this, a lot of people are not in the system by choice. Wish I could upvote this multiple times. Thanks for sharing!
I was thinking of including a weekly "slice of life" post on Sundays?
If someone wants to know the author?
Plus stories and events and such.