How to Tell when you are rich

When I was a kid, watermelons were a delicacy. One of my father's buddies, Uncle Ramon, was a prosperous fruit-and-vegetable wholesaler who operated a warehouse in the province.


Every summer, when the first watermelons rolled in, Uncle Ramon would call. Father and I would go to Uncle Ramon's warehouse and take up our positions. We would sit on the edge of the dock, feet dangling, and lean over to minimize the volume of juice we were about to spill on ourselves.


Uncle Ramon would take his machete, crack our first watermelon, hand us both a big piece and sit down next to us. Then, we would bury our faces in watermelon eating only the heart -- the reddest, juiciest, firmest most seed-free, the perfect part -- and throw away the rest.


Uncle Ramon was my father's idea of a rich man. I always thought it was due to his being such a successful businessman. Years later, I realized that what my father admired about Uncle Ramon's wealth was less its substance than its application. He knew how to stop working, get together with friends and eat only the heart of the watermelon.


What I learned from Uncle Ramon is that being rich is a state of mind. Some of us, no amtter how much money we have, will never be free enough to eat only the heart of the watermelon. Other are rich without ever being more than a paycheck ahead.


If you do not take the time to dangle your feet over the dock and chomp into life's small pleasures. your career is probably overwhelming your life.


For many years, I forgot that lesson I had learned as a kid on the loading dock. I was too busy making all the money I could make.


Well I had relearned it. I hope I have time left to enjoy the accomplishments of others and to take pleasure in the day. That is the heart of the watermelon. I have learned again to throw the rest away.


Finally, I am rich.


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