Dave Chapelle walked away from his hugely popular Comedy Central program Chapelle’s Show at the height of his popularity, leaving $50 million on the table. People questioned his sanity at the time.
After the interviewer asked him about how his decision to quit really wasn’t about the money, Chapelle offers this anecdote.
I watched one of these nature shows one time and they were talking about how a bushman finds water when it’s scarce, and they do what is called a ‘salt trap.’ I didn’t know this, but apparently baboons love salt. So, they put a lump of salt in a hole and they wait for the baboon.
The baboon comes, sticks his hand in the hole, grabs the salt, the salt makes his hand bigger, and he’s trapped and can’t get his hand out. Now, if he’s smart, all he does is let go of the salt. The baboon doesn’t want to let go of the salt. Then the bushman comes, grabs the baboon, throws him in a cage, and gives him all the salt he wants! And then the baboon gets thirsty, the bushman lets him out of the cage, the first place the baboon runs to is water, the bushman follows him, and they both drink to their fill.
And in that analogy, I felt like the baboon, but I was smart enough to let go of the salt.