The Fisherman

An excerpt from the book, "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen":

"Dr Jones, you are a fisherman, are you not?"
"Yes, when I can."
"And how many hours do you fish before you catch something?"
"Oh, I don't know. Many hundreds of hours, sometimes."
"So why do you fish? Is that not a bad use of your time?"
"Because I hope in the end I will catch one."
"Because you believe. Hope is belief. You have the beginnings of faith. Despite all the evidence, you want to believe. And when you catch one, what do you feel?"
"A very great happiness."
"You see, Dr Jones, you believe, and in the end your belief brings you great happiness. You are rewarded for your constancy and your faith, and the reward is much greater than the possession of a fish, which you could buy for little money at Tesco. So you are, after all, not so very different to the rest of us."