A man had visited a senior Maasai tribesman in a remote village in Tanzania. He was sitting down in a hut that was built from mud, sticks, grass, cow dung and cow urine. The senior member of the Masaai was an old man with a face weathered down by the elements and from traversing the bush, yet there was a glimmer of wisdom in it. As they were cooking game meat on a fire in the middle of the hut, had asked the man questions about his family and where he came from. He then asked the weary traveler “How many cows do you own?” to which the man replied “None.”
The Masaai guide he was with translated the reply to the tribesmen, and the other members of the tribe inside the hut began to mumble among themselves. After they had absorbed this reply and conversing among each other, the elder replied with “I am very sorry for you.” Despite this pity, one could see in his facial expressions that the man was also puzzled at the fact that somebody who was so poor was able to afford to travel such long distances and own a modern piece of technology such as a digital camera.
Once the tribesmen began to inquire to this man about his family once more, he mentioned that he had an uncle who used to own a cow ranch in Texas. Clarity began to flush in the tribesmen’s faces, as they came to the realization that this must be the spoiled nephew of a rich uncle, living off a family inheritance without having much to one’s name in terms of self earned wealth, the reason for his ability to travel.