Something to Think About

 8-5-12 – Owl Harbor Marina – Twitchell Island, CA – Day 34

With the Delta Doo Dah officially over, we have spent the last few days here at the last stop Owl Harbor Marina on Twitchell Island.  Owl Harbor is a place that seems to have a feeling unmatched by most everywhere else we have been.  It is probably not a place that everyone would enjoy, appreciate or even get excited about; but for some reason we are enamored with the aura and feeling that seems to seep from this place.  It is a feeling that is not always describable.  It exudes a sense of always being happy you are there to experience the place.  It is welcoming and wants you to stay and relax as long as you want.  It’s trusting, beyond most anywhere I’ve been.  In my opinion this is mostly attributed to Owl Harbor’s staff and particularly its owners.  The owners seem to want you to enjoy their facility, they trust you to use their facility, they appear to love their work and seem to do it for you; not for themselves.  It lends itself to a very unique atmosphere.  As I said this may not be for everyone, but if bikes available to borrow whenever, horse shoe pit (with shoes)  ready to use, honor system ice available (even an IOU pad if you forget your money), vegetables from the community garden available when there are extras and eggs from the chicken coup (depending on how the chickens were feeling that day) are not your thing; then this may not be your place.  So we thoroughly enjoy it. 

 This provides a segway for me into an anecdotal story I have heard and told to some people and which has been made into a song at some point that I recently listend to while relaxing at Mildred Island on our friends boat Annie.  I promised myself I wouldn’t do too much of this thinking / philosophical type of stuff on my blog so don’t worry I’ll stick to the glossy page kind of stuff most of the time.  It is the story of the Mexican Fisherman.

There was a wealthy American businessman on vacation in a little town on the Mexican coast.  He was spending some well-deserved R&R away from his highly successful life back in the states.  He was walking along the dock one morning when a middle age fisherman pulled alongside the dock and began to unload his catch from that morning.  The American noticed that it was quite sizable, in fact more sizeable than most of the other fishermen’s catches that day.  The American asked the fisherman,

“How long did it take you to catch all those fish?”
The fisherman replied,
“I’m not exactly sure, probably three or four hours.”
The American seemed surprised by this and said;
“You must be very accomplished at catching fish then, because you have caught more than all the rest”
“Yes” replied the fisherman “God has given me a talent to catch fish”
“Why then do you not fish more and then catch more fish?” asked the American.
“This is all the fish me and my family really need.  We eat some and sell the rest to buy the things we need”
“And what do you do with the rest of your day?” said the American somewhat perplexed
“Well, after fishing in the morning I sell my catch at the market and go home for lunch with my family.  We take a siesta in the afternoon and then I play with my children and talk with my wife.  We have dinner and play games in the evening and then I walk into town where I have a glass of wine, talk to my old friends and we sing songs until it is time for sleep.  Then I do it again the next day”
The business man got a glint in his eye and said,
“You know I am a businessman and it is my job to recognize opportunities and capitalize upon them.  I believe you have an opportunity here, would you like to hear about it?”
The fisherman was excited and said surely he would like to hear about the possibilities.
The businessman began;
“First of all, think of how many fish you could catch if you fished all day?  Then I would loan you some money and you could buy another boat, and with the extra money you have from fishing all day you could hire another fisherman.  You would teach him the craft and together you would catch more fish than you would ever need.  You would sell your fish and save the money.  Over time you could buy more boats and train more fishermen which in turn would give you more fish and then more money.”
The fisherman seemed excited and asked the businessman to continue.
“As your fleet grew bigger you would open a processing plant where you could ship your fish around the world.  There would become a desire for your fish and you would open up more processing plants in the states, San Francisco, maybe New York.  You would grow this business for some years and then you would recognize your dream and one day when the time was right you would offer an initial public offering on the stock exchange.  People would buy your business and you would retire and be rich beyond you dreams.”
The fisherman was intrigued and asked
“How long would this take me?”
“It should take no longer than fifteen or twenty years, during which time you will travel to your plants and see your business grow.  You will work hard and be rich one day because of it.”
“And what will happen then?” asked the fisherman, fully ready to become partners with the businessman.
“Why, you’ll retire, move to a small village on the Mexican coast where you can wake up in the morning and do some fishing.  You come home early and have lunch with your wife, maybe take a siesta in the afternoon.  Your children will be grown and presumably successful themselves, so you’ll walk into town, maybe visit with your friends who remain and sing songs and enjoy yourself.  Then the next day you can do it again if you like.

While some things are certainly easier said than done, the confluence of events and locations seem to make this story all the more thought provoking.  And while I may not have done justice to the story, I hope you get the point.  (Not to worry, glossy pictures of the PK’s travel extravaganza will be following shortly, along with good non-thought provoking stories!)