contentment

A story was told of a rich industrialist who was disturbed to find a fisherman sitting lazily beside his boat.

“Why aren’t you out there fishing?” he asked.

“Because I’ve caught enough fish for today,” said the fisherman.

“Why don’t you catch more fish than you need?” the rich man asked.

“What would I do with them?”

“You could earn more money,” came the impatient reply, “and buy a better boat so you could go deeper and catch more fish. You could purchase nylon nets, catch even more fish, and make more money. Soon you’d have a fleet of boats and be rich like me.”

The fisherman asked, “Then what would I do?”

“You could sit down and enjoy life,” said the industrialist.

“What do you think I’m doing now?” the fisherman replied as he looked placidly out to sea.

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My female owner spied this story in a church newsletter article, written by her Goat Fren. Half-way through the story, at the point when the rich man as the fisherman why he didn’t catch more fish than required, my female owner thought it was an article about the perils of laziness.

Reading to the end, she realised it was about being contented with your present life. The moral of the story hit her like a sudden big wave. For a while, she had already chastised herself for not being happy even when she is probably the envy of many people who lament that unlike them, she is so lucky, being able to go overseas to study, to get postgrad qualifications etc etc. And consistently in her life, my female owner had said “I would be happy only after I achieve XXX” or “I would be able to enjoy life only after YYY is completed.”

More and more, she realise that her friends are generally not happy as well. It doesn’t matter that they are highly educated, good-lookers, come from a complete family, hold secure or well-paying jobs, healthy with no physical limitations, free from family problems etc. They are just not happy or satisfied with their current state of life.

My female owner feels ashamed of the way she treats life. She is blessed in many ways – loving and supportive family, secure friendships, able-bodied, relatively cerebral, a little flabby but still ok, financially stable, able to pursue a range of leisure activities to occupy herself. Of course, there is more she can ask for, the sky’s the limit, but hey, why isn’t she contented with her current lot in life?

She figures that it’s all in her attitude, her values in life and what she chooses to focus on. She has learnt, contentment starts from within, and not from what one possesses. Discontentment does not come from what one lacks, but from what one perceives to lack.