ABOUT GREED.
Do you know how to catch a monkey? In their natural habitat, hunters place a heavy box with holes in it on the ground. They then pour roasted nuts into the box to use as bait. A monkey hides in the nearby foliage and watches the commotion, the smell of the roasted nuts teasing his nose. When the hunters leave, the monkey jumps down and approaches the box curiously. She puts her paw in a hole and grabs a handful of nuts. However, she cannot get her fist out. She sticks her other paw in a different hole, but the same thing happens again.
The monkey cannot grasp one simple fact: if she opens her fist and lets go of the nuts, she will be free! Greed has overtaken her consciousness! So the foolish creature is trapped, a victim of its own greed.
In our village, it is possible to catch snapper, barracuda and even large grouper by fishing from the shore. However, these fish feed on the rubbish that has accumulated on the seabed. The tastiest fish are pelagic and inhabit the offshore coral reef. This is where the fishermen take their boats. They return in the late afternoon to sell their catch to the locals. They fillet the fish and throw the rest, including the heads, back into the sea. Huge seabirds, such as frigates and pelicans, circle above, waiting to catch their prey. They dive in for it, and this spectacle attracts crowds of locals and tourists.
Locals buy fillets of tuna, mackerel, snapper, dorado and other fish that have been caught by local fishermen. But why throw away the heads? They make great soup! Perhaps they throw them away because there are so many fish in the sea.
I once watched a fisherman cutting up a huge yellowfin tuna. As he always did, he was going to throw the head back into the sea. I asked him if I could have it.
“You can have it,” he said, nodding.
A few days later, I approached him again with the same request for a fish head. This time, he asked for five local dollars, which was the equivalent of two-and-a-half US dollars. That was fine by me, so I paid. As a courtesy, I also gave him a bottle of beer and one of my cigars. I used to be a fisherman myself and simply wanted to thank him for his hard work. However, I made a rash mistake. And had fallen into the ‘local mentality’ trap, once again.
The third time I asked him to sell me a fish head, he just shrugged:
‘Well… I don’t know…” . He continued cutting up the fish with a knife.
Embarrassed by his refusal, I decided to buy fish from less greedy fishermen instead.
One day, I heard him mutter behind me, ‘Damn you, stranger.’ He was angry because he had lost me as a customer. But had he realised that he had punished himself with his greed?
These days, fishermen don’t throw away fish heads because they are in demand. And frigates and pelicans are left with guts and tails.
Our naivety leads us into a trap. Are we any different from that monkey?
*****
THREE PIGLETS.
My friend Joe is originally from Texas. One day he moved further south to enjoy life on the sunny Caribbean coast. That was Belize. One day, Joe decided to fatten up a piglet for a Christmas party. But he was renting an apartment, so there was no way he could carry out his idea. So he made a deal with a local farmer. Joe bought three piglets and gave the farmer two piglets for free on the condition that he would fatten the third piglet for Joe. The deal went through and the farmer took the piglets.
But after a few days, he asked Joe for money for feed.
Reluctantly, Joe gave him some money and explained the terms of the deal again. The farmer nodded obediently, but a few days later it happened again.
This went on for several months until desperate Joe suggested that the farmer can take all three piglets and leave him alone.
The farmer scratched the back of his head and said:
‘I’d rather you paid me the money for your piglet…’.
Hearing such insolence, Joe was speechless.
And the peasant continued:
‘Well, if you won’t buy your pig back, then buy my child!‘
‘What the hell is a child?” giggled Joe.
‘My daughter’s child,’ the farmer shouted, waving his hands,
‘She is seventeen years old and you can marry her, but I want the money for her child!’
Joe jumped into his car and disappeared into the clouds of road dust. I think he became a vegetarian after that pig story.
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