The old Cherokee chief sat in his reservation hut, smoking the ceremonial pipe, eyeing the two US government officials sent to interview him. <br><br>&quot;Chief Two Eagles,&quot; one official began, &quot;you have observed the white man for many generations, you have seen his wars and his products, you have seen all his progress, and all his problems.&quot; The chief nodded. <br><br>The official continued, &quot;Considering recent events, in your opinion, where has the white man gone wrong?&quot; The chief stared at the government officials for over a minute, and then calmly replied. &quot;When white man found the land, Indians were running it. No taxes. No debt. Plenty buffalo, Plenty beaver. Women did most of the work. Medicine man free. Indian men hunted and fished all the time&quot; <br><br>The chief smiled, and added quietly, &quot;White man dumb enough to think he could improve system like that.&quot;<br>

 

No kidding, they had a pretty good setup.

 

you got that right....

 

Makes one think.........?

 

Life in a nutshell<br><br>An American businessman was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied only a little while. The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.<br><br>The American then asked, but what do you do with the rest of your time? The Mexican fisherman said, &quot;I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life, senior.&quot;<br><br>The American scoffed, &quot;I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.&quot;<br><br>The Mexican fisherman asked, &quot;But senior, how long will this all take?&quot; To which the American replied, &quot;15-20 years.&quot; But what then, senior? The American laughed and said that’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.<br><br>Millions, senior? But then what? The American said, &quot;Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.&quot;<br>

 

There you go. My point exactly. 8) 8) 8)<br><br>~Dave<br><br>

 

Yip, I suppose they couldn't take that away from you unless they decide that kidnapping and extortion is acceptable. For my two cents I'll stay up here making ends meet and enjoy my wife and kids.

 

[quote author=Gear Poet link=board=10;threadid=6704;start=0#63269 date=1036644275]<br>Yeah, but the white men brought horses with them. The Indians were on foot until then. Gaul, a Sioux headman, once said: &quot;For the horses, we could almost forgive the white men for everything they did. Almost.&quot; <br><br><br> The Indians had horses long before the white eyes came over.<br>[/quote]