Viral email promoting Dudeism??

[Rev. Ed C]

Hola Dudes.  I was at work yesterday and one of my colleagues sent around an email that they'd received from outside, you know the viral sort people forward on until they get it back in five years time.

I was delighted to see the message of the email was a wholly Dudeist one, and mentioned it to my colleagues "Hey, you know that Dudeism thing I was talking about.  Well... that about sums it up."  I was also delighted to hear back "Yeah, I thought about that as I was reading it".

So, for your pleasure (and maybe your email outbox), a modern day tale of Dudeism:

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican fishing village.

A tourist complimented the local fishermen
on the quality of their fish and asked
how long it took him to catch them.

"Not very long." they answered in unison.

"Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?"

The fishermen explained that their small catches were
sufficient to meet their needs and those of their families.

"But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"We sleep late, fish a little, play with our children,
and take siestas with our wives.
In the evenings, we go into the village to see our friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs.

We have a full life."

The tourist interrupted,

"I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you!
You should start by fishing longer every day.
You can then sell the extra fish you catch.
With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat."

"And after that?"

"With the extra money the larger boat will bring,
you can buy a second one and a third one
and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers.
Instead of selling your fish to a middle man,
you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants
and maybe even open your own plant.

You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City , Los Angeles , or even New York City !

From there you can direct your huge new enterprise."

"How long would that take?"

"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years." replied the tourist.

"And after that?"

"Afterwards? Well my friend, that's when it gets really interesting, " answered the tourist, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And after that?" asked the fishermen.

"After that you'll be able to retire,
live in a tiny village near the coast,
sleep late, play with your children,
catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife
and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."

"With all due respect sir, but that's exactly what we are doing now. So what's the point wasting twenty-five years?" asked the Mexicans.

And the moral of this story is:



Know where you're going in life....
maybe you're already there

There were some illustrative animated pictures, but, you weren't missing much 

[therighteousdude]

Very Dude! Very Dude!

[greatspiritmonk]

Wonderful and very enlightening story. Far fucking out.

[FuckinA]

Fuckin' A!

[Dude of Dudes]

See.......
It's all about taking it easy, man.   

[meekon5]

I have seen this before (there must be a study on how long it takes something like this to circulate the web, and how long until it comes back top you.)

It does remind me of the Taoist parable of the stone cutter.

[not_exactly_a_lightweight]

I might be splittin hairs here, but I heard this first about North American Natives. I hope thats the correct nomenclature, I would hate to self-apply the wrong moniker.

would you care to enlighten us on the stone cutter thing?

[greatspiritmonk]

Yes, that would be interesting. 
Fuck, I probably know it, but to be sure meekon, you should tell us.

[meekon5]

The shorter version of the story(a story changes with every telling , I've dropped a couple of steps because that's how I first heard it):

A stone cutter is going about his business. Hanging on the side of a Mountain. It's hard work , it's dusty, and its hot.

He stops for a minute. Feeling the heat he looks up to see the sun blazing down.

"How magnificent and powerful, what it must be to be so powerful and mighty. I wish I was the sun."

And all of a sudden he is the sun. High in the sky beaming down, lording over the world, no one is more powerful than him.

Whilst he shines down and basks in his glory he looks down. Suddenly he realises. there are some places his might is not shining. Who can be so powerful as to block the suns power. As he looks down he sees a cloud and thinks to himself. "How powerful is the cloud, it blocks the sun, I wish I were a cloud."

And all of a sudden he is a cloud. Floating above the world, going where he wishes, blocking the suns power.

But again something is wrong. Something is pushing him from place to place. The Wind. The wind is more powerful than the cloud. And of course he thinks to himself. "If only I were the wind, so powerful and gloriously free"

And all of a sudden he is the wind. blowing and rushing across the planet free to go were he wished. He rushes and blows and runs hither and thither. Pushing things over, blowing things around.

Until he comes up against something that doesn't move no matter how hard he blows. A mountain. Unable to help himself he wishes. "If only I were the mountain, it must be the most powerful thing there is."

And all of a sudden he is the mountain. Regal, and majestic. more powerful than the sun, more powerful than the cloud, unmoved by the wind, he sits resplendent.

And as he sits in all his glory, he hears a tiny noise, the chip, chip, chip of a chisel hit by the hammer of a stone cutter.

Well thats the version I know. There is a version where he goes through a couple of human stages first. but I prefer this version.

[not_exactly_a_lightweight]

The grass is always greener further around the merry-go-round -

to mix metaphors -

in the parlance of the thread...

[meekon5]

My favorite mixed metaphor is from a Malaysian friend years ago:

"Up Shit creek without a mattress"

[ScottishDude]

It be the way life should be lived , very touching 

[not_exactly_a_lightweight]

My favorite mixed metaphor is from a Malaysian friend years ago:

"Up Shit creek without a mattress"

I've got a couple of irons in the fire.
But I'm holding them close to my chest.

[Matt the Walrus]

Man, if I got more emails like that I might actually read some of them.

[greatspiritmonk]

Fucking A, meekon. Wonderful story with a very deep meaning.