The Fisherman and the Buddhist

It's another beautiful day at the beach. I was up early with the fishermen. They fool me every morning. When I see them down at the water's edge, they are bundled up in sweat pants and heavy jackets. I assume this means it is too cold to sit out in my bathing suit, so I pull on my sweats and jacket and bring out my coffee. But it's 75 degrees . I happily peel down to my suit and assume that they have been out there for a few hours.

I wanted to write early today, but I left my computer charging in my son's room. This means I will either have to wait until after 10:00am to write, or wake him up and try to write once he is up. I choose the former. Last night he borrowed my computer to update his website. He started this site about 6 months ago and he has updated it about 4 times. The problem with this is that it is a sports news site, full of scores and comments on the previous night of sports. When he asks me why he doesn't have many visitors to his site, I try and explain that people who follow sports probably want their update on a daily basis, not every 4 months. After reading a few paragraphs of my blog yesterday, he kindly questioned why anyone would choose to read "that stuff" over his "stuff". The competitor in me couldn't resist comparing the number of hits on each site. He mumbled something about a "show-off" and I was ashamed of myself.

Back to the fishermen. Every morning we are here, the same 2 guys are out there on the beach. From my 4th floor balcony, they look like 2 NFL players. One brings his fishing pole and nothing else. He stands the entire time he is there and never moves. The other guy brings 2 poles and a big blue cooler. He has a pretty elaborate routine. First he sticks both poles in the ground. Then he folds back the top on the enormous cooler and proceeds to pull out drawers and various items. I can't quite make out what he is doing, but he finishes up with a big mug of something, closes the top, grabs a pole and sits down. He never moves for the rest of the time he is there. The curious thing is that in the 2 years I have been watching them, they have never caught one fish. Never. And my feeling is that they don't expect to, because they don't bring a bucket or anything to put a fish in. (I suppose the guy with the cooler could use the cooler, but I don't think he would dare).

Half an hour later, 2 more guys show up. They wave at the "originals" and begin to set up about 50 yards further down the beach. These guys cannot be more than 18, and they wear their swim suits and nothing else. They each have 2 poles which they quickly stick in the ground. They also have a huge white bucket. They get to work immediately, and in the next 15 minutes, they have at least 15 fish. They chat amiably with anyone who walks by, but they mean business. When their bucket is full, they pack up, wave to the other 2 guys and leave.

Meanwhile, NFL 1 and 2 are winding down. The mug goes in the cooler, the poles come out of the ground, and they slowly amble away. And I am left to ponder what it all means. There is an old Buddhist principle that says you should always act as if the future of the universe depends on what you do, while laughing at yourself for thinking that whatever you do makes any difference. (of course, sometimes I think that the Buddhists copied all of the best lessons from the Bible , then sat down, had a glass of wine, and decided it was a good plan but a little too "uptight")
I am thinking that these guys have the right idea. There are lessons to be learned here. They are disciplined and meticulous, but their hard work does not depend on the outcome. It is the effort and not the result. This is something I can admire.

I write every morning. Some days the results are ok, and some days, as my son so kindly puts it, "Why would anyone want to read that stuff?" But it doesn't matter. It's all in the effort.
And that is today's lesson form the beach.

Until tomorrow....that is if I remember to keep the computer out of Matt's room...