Mike and I recently attended our grandson’s graduation ceremony at Memorial Stadium. Seniors had enough family and friends to fill up its appointed half of the stadium; quite impressive.

The valedictorian retold a parable she hoped would be of help to her fellow graduates.

Doing a bit of research, I discovered many variations of German Nobel Prize Winner of Literature Henrich Boll’s “Anecdote Concerning the Lowering of Productivity.” I’ll paraphrase the already simplified version, generally referred to as “The Parable of the American Tourist and the Mexican Fisherman.”

A tourist in a small coastal village noticed a fisherman docked and his boat filled with several fine fish. The tourist asked how long it took to catch the fish, to which the fisherman replied; “Only a little while.”

The tourist asked why he didn’t stay out longer in order to catch more fish. The fisherman assured him this was just the amount he needed to support his family’s needs.

The tourist asked what he did with the rest of his time. The fisherman said, “I fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my friends. I have a full and busy life.”

The tourist immediately saw how he could help the fisherman. “You could spend more time fishing, sell the fish, and buy several bigger boats with your proceeds. Then you could sell to the processor, open your own cannery, and control the product, processing and distribution.”

The fisherman asked how long all this would take to do. The tourist thought it over, and said it would probably take about 20 years to accomplish.“What then?” asked the fisherman.

The tourist laughed, “When the time is right you would sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”The fisherman asked, “Then what?”

The tourist said, “Then you would retire, 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 friends.”

Parables, of course, are designed not to be taken literally, but to deliver some simple truth.

So, how do we define our success and happiness?

What are our goals in this lifetime, and is collecting as much money as possible — while we put our dreams on the back burner — really important? As the valedictorian said, “Sometimes it’s important to understand what we really have, right now.”

—Marylin Olds is an Opinion page columnist for the Kingston Community News. She welcomes comments at marylin.olds@gmail.com.