An old man, walking along a country road, came upon a fellow digging a ditch. The ditch digger was a young man, well muscled, and seemed like one that had become accustomed to manual labour. He was sweaty, tired, and dusty and looked like he had been digging that ditch for a long time, and as the old man walked up, he stopped, dropped his hoe, and took a swig of water from a bottle that lay on the side of the ditch.

'Son,' the old man intoned 'if you do not mind my asking, why are you digging this ditch?"

The young man took another drink of his water, wiped his lips with the back of his hand and answered,

"I dig this ditch so that I may get paid."

"And what do you do when you get paid?," the old man asked.

"I use that money to buy food," came the reply.

The old man paused  a little before asking "And why do you eat?"

This seemed like a silly question, but the young man decided to answer the old man anyway

"I eat so that I may have strength"

"Ah. I see," said the old man. "And what do you need this strength for?"

The young man looked at the ditch.

"I need the strength to dig the ditch."

The old man smiled. "So, if I understand you correctly" he said, leaning on his cane "You dig the ditch, so that you may get paid to buy food to eat to have strength to dig the ditch?"

***

It's a silly little story, I know, but when I first heard it, it made me question a lot of the things I did.

Are you the young man in the story? Trapped in a vicious cycle...the Rat Race? Why do you do what you do?