Circle of Envy - A Thanksgiving Tale

Not a bad view near Sisters Creek. 

Once upon a time, a man was fishing from a dock. The weather was beautiful and the man was peaceful and happy. Then he noticed a boater backing his jon-boat down the nearby ramp and into the water. He started thinking, “Oh boy, does that guy have it made! He’s not stuck on a dock, like me, waiting and hoping for the fish to come to him. He’s a free man. He can fish in one spot and if he doesn’t catch anything there, he can pull up his anchor and go somewhere else. I would do anything, just to have a little boat like that.”

The man in the boat was feeling pretty good as he fired up his five and a half horsepower Evinrude and pulled away. He thought to himself, “I am the captain of this ship. I can go anywhere. I can do anything. If I don’t catch a fish in one spot, I can pull anchor and go somewhere else. I am invincible. Yes!”

After a while, a guy in a cool bass boat passed the man in the jon-boat. The bass boat was fully decked out. Swivel seats, a live well, all the gadgets, and ten times the horsepower on the pitiful little jon-boat. The man in the jon-boat thought to himself, “That guy really has it made. If I could ever get my hands on a boat like that, everything would be beautiful. I’d be a happy man.”

A little later, a dude in a great speedboat passed the guy in the bass boat. The guy in the bass boat thought, “Oh baby, that is one sweet boat. He can fish off it, but he can also pull a water skier. And he can go anywhere twice as fast as I can in this old clunker. If only I had a boat like that, I would be so happy.”

Then thespeedboat passed a cabin cruiser. The dude in the speedboat thought to himself, “Now that guy has it made. When he goes out on his boat, he can stay overnight. He doesn’t have to worry about being anywhere by dusk. If he’s still out when it gets dark, he can just throw his anchor over the side and let the water rock him to sleep.”

The boater in the cabin cruiser noticed the ultimate waterfront mansion. He throttled down to take a good look. The house was like something out of a fairy tale. Several boats were tied up at the dock, including an oceangoing yacht, a huge speedboat, an incredible fishing boat, and a heavy duty jon-boat. The boater thought to himself, “That guy has it all. He has a boat for whatever mood he’s in. And he doesn’t have to back down a ramp or drive to a marina. He just walks out the back door, down to the dock, gets in whichever boat suits him, and goes. What I wouldn’t do to have what he has.”

A little while later, the man in the jon-boat putted by the big house. The owner was looking out the window. He had a cell phone in his ear. His lawyer was on one line, his accountant on another line, and an unhappy client on yet a third line. As he watched the jon-boat go by, he reminisced about the good old days when he only had one small boat. “Life was so much simpler," he told himself. "Now things are very complicated. I have an unbelievable house with an unbelievable mortgage payment. I have very expensive toys but no time to play with them. And I have grown kids who are waiting for me to die so they can get their hands on my money. That guy on the jon-boat may not know it, but he really has it made! I would do just about anything to go back to being like him.”

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This story is from Chicken Nuggets for the Soul and it's based on something from my life. One day, back when I had a small boat, I was at a boat ramp and got into a chat with the owner of a very nice bass boat. It had all the bells and whistles. I have to admit, I was a bit envious. I think the guy might have sensed it. 

"Want to know where I got my best fish of the day today?" he asked me.

Of course I wanted to know.

"Right under that dock," he told me. 

True story!