There once was an accountant who lived in the vast, flat suburbs of Dallas. Every day he traveled to a gray, boxy building in the center of a tangle of freeways and worked all day tallying numbers so the good people of Ernest and Young could help other good people capitalize on business opportunities. At night the man journeyed back to his home on the outer edges of Richardson, ate a frozen dinner, watched the channel 8 evening news, and went to bed. The man was very unhappy with his life. He wanted to leave it but felt he could not. After all, the 29 year old accountant was paid a good salary, given good health insurance, and provided with matching 401k contributions.
One night, the man realized that if he had no future he could find the courage to leave his life. He wouldn’t have to worry about the month’s rent, or the cable bill or his retirement plan. So the accountant put his future out with the trash, and the next morning the city came and collected it. He walked outside and floated away. At first the man was very happy. He flew across all the oceans on warm breezes. He soared across the globe to Kathmandu and Extremadura and Antananarivo. He saw golden beaches, emerald forests and sapphire lakes. But soon the man tired of flying around the world; now he wanted to settle down with a good woman and a golden retriever and start a family. But every time he tried to stop he just drifted away again on the gentle wind. And the former accountant realized that a man’s future is like an anchor that he drags around to keep him from floating away. Without his future he was doomed to float forever.
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