Why I Hope The Recession Makes a Monkey Out of Me

My daughter gave me the greatest compliment of my life over this past weekend when she told me one night as we were tucking in for bed, "you know, Dad, I really like myself. Not that everything always goes right, and I know I have some things I can do better. But I am really happy. Even when I'm sad, I never stop liking who I am."

Wow.

Talk about work-life balance. That kid is miles ahead of where I am (I'm still working on feeling like that). It made me think that I might just be doing something right. I was a very cool moment (and when she's a teenager and can't stand me, I will grit my teeth and cling to it to get me through!)

In any event, it made me think of a great joke I heard that applies to all this financial turmoil, whether we will all keep our jobs, and how in the world we will survive what appears to be a long and difficult recession with even the shreds of a work-life balance left intact. Here you go. Enjoy.

The Gazelle Lion and the Monkey

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must out run the slowest gazelle or it will starve.

It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes, you better start running.

Every morning, the monkey wakes up, sits in his tree, and watches the crazy gazelles and lions run themselves silly until they collapse in exhaustion. He then climbs down from his tree, walks over, pokes them both in the eye and -- laughing -- walks away eating a banana.