Net Gain — Negative; A Fishy Story

By Author Tony Demaio

Once upon a time on an island far far away was a village. During the day, the men fished for about 6 hours and the women collected fruit (mangos, papayas, bananas, coconuts, etc.) for about 4 hours. When the men came home, both tended the vegetable garden for two hours. The rest of the time was spent cooking and other such tasks. As a family, they worked about 14 hours a day for food. At night, there was dancing and socializing.

Two couples, Dick and Jane and Jack and Jill were close friends. Often Jack and Dick would fish together. One day, Jack said to Dick, “You know, there has GOT to be a better way to fish than baiting a hook and throwing it overboard.” Dick said, “But we’ve always done it this way.” Jack said, “Suppose we made a net, stretched it between two boats, then rowed like heck for the shore. Think of all the fish we might trap in that net.”

Dick was a bit dubious, but agreed to help Jack. That night, instead of socializing with the rest of the villagers, Jack and Dick discussed how to make a net. This went on for a week. The other villagers began talking about how Jack and Dick were “anti-social”.

Finally, Jack and Dick decided how to construct the net and began to do it. The rest of the village scoffed and pointed. They laughed at the two men, and talked about how they were wasting their time when they could be dancing. After a month, the net was ready.

Jack and Dick took the net out to try out their idea. They carefully weighted the bottom, stretched the top between the two boats, dropped the net, and rowed for the shore. They reached the shore, brought in the net, and found it to be empty. The villagers laughed and laughed and scorned them.

That night Jack and Dick talked. Dick was for quitting and going back to dancing. Jack tried to convince him that the problem was that the mesh was too large, the fish were escaping through the holes and that smaller holes would make the idea work. Dick reluctantly agreed to try it again. Dick and Jack continued to work and miss the dancing and socializing. They became the joke of the village.

After two months, they tried again, and failed again. The other villagers made much fun on them and derided them. They scoffed, laughed, and pointed. They held Jack and Dick up to contempt. Dick went back to dancing and socializing and tried to try to salvage his reputation. Jack thought about the problem and thought about it. He took out the failed net and looked at it. He grabbed it by one of the links to throw it away and found that the link had broken. Examination showed that MANY links were broken. Apparently, they had caught fish, but the net was too weak to hold the fish.

Jack went to Dick and explained what he had found. Dick said, “You fool me once, shame on you; you fool me twice, shame on me.” Jack pleaded and said that one more try wouldn’t hurt. Dick, while not convinced, agreed to help. Two more months of work, and they were ready to try again. Only two villagers were on hand to watch the failure. However, when they beached their outriggers and hauled in the net, there were five fish. In an hour, they had caught more fish than they normally caught in six hours. That night, they took the fish to the village dance and shared them with the rest of the village. Everyone congratulated them on their catch, but most believed that they could not repeat it.

The next day, Jack and Dick went out and caught enough fish in an hour for themselves, then went home, helped their wives gather fruit, and tended their garden. As a family, they worked about 9 hours a day.

One day, Jack said to Dick, “I have an idea. What about fishing for TWO hours, and then trading the extra fish to someone for fruit. They can gather our fruit in four hours instead of fishing for six hours. Everyone wins.” They approached two friends and proposed that Dick and Jack would supply their family with fish if they would supply Dick and Jack with fruit. It didn’t take a genius to see that all benefited from this transaction, so the deal was struck. It worked well.

Things were going well for Dick and Jack. After a few months, Dick said, “Suppose we let a couple of folks use our net. They can fish for four hours instead of six hours and supply themselves, our associates, and us with fish. That way, all we have to do is tend our gardens. Everybody wins.” They made the bargain.

Things went on an even keel for a while. One day, Jack said to Dick, “You know, I hate to see our friends working so hard. Why don’t we make another net and let two friends use it to fish? We can trade the extra fish for fruit and help the old folks in the village. Also, we can give someone fish to tend our gardens. They can tend our gardens for four hours instead of fishing for six hours.” They constructed another net and made the deal.

The village prospered, until one day a member of the village pointed out that Dick and Jack were not working at all—except when they had to mend the nets or construct a new net. It was claimed that it was “unfair” that the villagers had to work 3 – 4 hours fishing so Dick and Jack could do nothing. Dick and Jack pointed out how the villagers now had as much fish as they wanted, and were working fewer hours to get it—to no avail.

After awhile, Dick and Jack stopped going to the village dance at night. Other villagers began avoiding them, criticizing them, and acting quite hostile. Such was encouraged by a small group of villagers who claimed that the nets should belong to the village, that Dick and Jack should have to work like the rest of the village, and that the fish should be community property and be distributed equally among the villagers. This small group was so persuasive that eventually the village council agreed with the group and gave them the authority to oversee the program. The program was called “Fair Fish”.

Dick and Jack moved to the other side of the Island, made a new net, and lived there with Jane and Jill. They planted a new garden and lived peaceably. The “leaders” established a schedule of workers that would work and catch fish to be distributed among the village. The leaders “worked” by making up the schedule and deciding who would work how many hours and how the fish were to be distributed. Since there were only three nets, it was decided to construct more. It was discovered that no one knew how to construct a net. Consequently, the schedule involved only six people per day.

Things went fine for a month–until one of the nets broke. It was discovered that no one knew how to repair the net. Someone suggested that the net be brought to Dick and Jack, but the “leaders” vetoed the idea. It was decided to “make do” with two nets. The village did so—until the second net broke.

With only one net left, it was necessary for two villagers to work eight hours a day to catch enough fish for the small group of select few, and the rest of the villagers went back to working six hours a day for their personal fish.

Then the last net broke. By carefully scheduling the villagers, it was found that working most of the villagers eight hours a day would provide enough fish so that the leaders did not have to work fishing—they worked by scheduling. It was so decided by the village council, who had been previously informed that THEY would work only 3 hours a day.

Once upon a time on an island far far away, was a village. During the day the men fished for about 8 hours for themselves and others, and the women collected fruit for their family and others for about 5 hours. When the men came home, both tended their garden and the gardens of others for about 3 hours. The rest of the time was spent cooking and other such tasks. As a family, they worked about 19 hours a day to provide food. On occasion there was dancing and socializing at night, but more and more infrequently as the villagers were too tired from working for food all day. A small group worked “very hard” directing their efforts.

On the other side of the island, Jack and Jill and Dick and Jane led a pleasant life. Dick had found a way for only one person to use a net, and Jack had found a way to irrigate their common garden. The families worked a total of about 6 hours a day, and were looking forward to when the fruit trees they had planted nearby reached maturity.

To those of my readers who do not recognize this story—it could also be titled:

“The United Fruit Experience in Guatemala”

United Fruit established a presence and jobs were plentiful. It was case of “everybody wins”. The natives used the phrase, “Good, but not ours.” to describe the situation. They agitated, claimed that United Fruit “wasn’t paying their fair share”, and eventually took over the site. The predictable happened. If you choose to look, you will find that the United Fruit sites have been abandoned after the folks in Guatemala took them over. They couldn’t build them and they couldn’t run them—they could only loot them. The situation went from “everybody wins” to “everybody loses”. The natives NOW say:

“Ours, but not good”

Tony De Maio

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