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On one of my visits to Brazil, in the 1980's, an aquaintance told me the following story.
While visiting the Xingu reserve in Mato Grosso,1 a white man, whom we will refer to as Juan,
came across an Indian named José, resting on a hammock.
The next day, Juan again saw José resting on the hammock. So he
approached the Indian and said: "José, what are you doing?"
José responded: "Resting."
Juan said: "Don't you have to work?" José said: "Not really, everything I need is free
here. All we do is pick the fruits and other products of the jungle, and we don't even have to do that very often."
Juan insisted: "But you can work and make extra money." To which José said: "We don't need much. We are fine as is. Besides,
when we die, we cannot take the extra money with us."
Juan responded: "Yes, you cannot take the money with you, but you can leave it to your kids."
At this point, José became increasingly exasperated, and said to Juan: "You are kidding me... the sun has always come out for me.
Are you saying that
the sun will not come out for my kids?"
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