You’re a hell of a fisherman Pete, and we hate to see you go.

What did you say you’d be doing again? Following around some rabbi or something?

If I’m being honest it seems like a bad decision. Look at all you have here. You’ve been doing really well lately, and people have been noticing. It seems like you’ve got a lot of potential and this line of work could be really lucrative for you.

But you have to stick with it, you know? You can’t just bounce around from thing to thing. Success doesn’t happen overnight. You’ve got to pay your dues son. I mean there’s guys down on this dock who have been doing it for ten, fifteen, twenty years, and they’re just getting started!

Put in your time and you’ll get there eventually.

I understand, I had my wild days too.

But you’re a young guy and you’ve got your whole life ahead of you. There’s going to be plenty of time to do what you’re talking about later. Look, I’m not necessarily opposed to what you’re proposing, but why not take the next few years to establish yourself and build a nice foundation, and THEN you can go. Think about it, if you save money and retire early you can have a nice comfortable life while you pursue your dreams.

I mean, you’re not being realistic AT ALL quite frankly. This is not the way life works. You think the rest of us wouldn’t absolutely LOVE to drop everything and go follow some spiritual teacher around the country!? Sure, sounds great, but that’s not how it is for most people. Really, it’s quite selfish Pete, you running around while the rest of us continue doing real work. You think you’re better than us? Is that what it is? You think you’re above all this? Too good for fish guts?

You’re letting your family down, really you’re letting the whole community down. Fishing is a good way to make money! It’s not the most glamorous thing, but it’s stable and predictable. If you keep at it you’ll definitely never go hungry. And what about your family? Your kids? What do they all think about this? There’s NO WAY they could be thrilled about your plan. What are they supposed to do now? I mean, it’s one thing to be young and unencumbered, but guess what??... you’re not 23 anymore!!

Actually you really need to grow up and start acting like an adult Peter. This whole thing is so crazy. And what specifically did you say you’d be doing with this guy? …. You don’t even know??...Just “following him”?....That’s insane! How can you be doing something when you don’t even know what you’ll be doing? You can’t plan anything, you can’t live like that.

I don’t know Pete, I really thought I knew you. I had really high hopes for you to be honest. I was sure you’d do big things in this world, but now you’re just going to squander your future in fishing for this madness.

I think you should just go. Seriously, just go. And then call me in five years and tell me it wasn’t the biggest mistake of your life. No, I’m serious.

Yeah, it’s like that. Just go…..

Ok….

“Bye!” …I guess.

A Saint Quits His Job