If You Want It, Work For It -- There Are No Shortcuts

In the early 1960s "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" was a TV show about, what else, a guy named Dobie Gillis. One of Dobie's friends was a guy named Maynard (played by Bob Denver of "Gilligan's Island" fame). What made Maynard famous was not the fact that he was one of the first hippies on TV but that every time someone said the word "work" he would repeat it in a high-pitched voice as if someone had said a bad word. It was funny, but bespoke of a deeper truth. By and large, we don't like work. You can tell because some of the top-selling authors and speakers focus on getting rich in a hurry. Guess what? There aren't any shortcuts. Those get-rich-quick schemes? If they're legal, they don't work. So how do you get rich, achieve goals, or get from here to there? You work for it. This tale from Burma is a great reminder if you should ever forget.

A man's daughter was married to a young man who was both handsome and intelligent. But it soon became apparent that all was not as it seemed. The young man was obsessed with alchemy and rather than work he spent all his time, and bridal dowry, in the pursuit of turning lead into gold. The daughter eventually went to her father and told him her woes. The father thought for a moment and then told his daughter to bring her husband to see him the next day. The next day the young man came to speak to his father-in-law. "My daughter tells me you are an alchemist. I was once an alchemist. But it is only now, when I am too old to do it, that I have learned the missing ingredient." The young man was excited and asked what the ingredient was, to which the father replied that he needed one pound of the powder from banana bunches. The young man said that it seemed easy enough, but that it would require some effort. "Yes, I know, which is why I cannot do it myself," the father answered. "But if you do this, I will teach you how to make gold."

The young man agreed, so with borrowed money from his father-in-law, he bought some land, cleared it, and planted banana trees. He tended them with great care, and when they at last produced fruit he carefully scraped all the powder from the bananas. It was but a minimal amount, but the young man kept at it, and two years later, after planting more banana trees, he at last had one pound of the powder and ran to his father-in-law's home with it. "Excellent!" the father said. "Now, would you also bring my daughter here." The young man did not understand, but did as he was asked. When the two returned, the father asked to see the powder. The young man eagerly showed it to him. Then the father turned to his daughter. "Surely with this much powder there must have been many bananas. Where are they?" The daughter told her father that she had sold the bananas and used the money to pay their expenses and had managed to save money as well. When the father asked to see what she had saved, the daughter produced a large bag and poured its contents onto a table. Out came a bunch of coins, many of them gold. The father-in-law picked up one of the gold coins and showed it to his son-in-law. "You see? You have managed to turn banana powder into gold!" The young man suddenly realized the trick his father-in-law and wife had played on him and had to laugh at their cleverness. He thanked his father-in-law, kissed his wife, and live a long and happy life tending his banana plants.

There isn't a whole lot more that needs to be said on this subject. It takes effort and hard work to get to where you want to be, whether it's a great employee, business owner, professional entertainer, or a wealthy individual. Be wise, and start working. :-)

Have a question, problem, thought, or just a comment? Want to know what fairy tales say about some other topic? Send it to me and I'll post it here!