FredL

Al, let me tell you exactly what will happen to these two people. It's really obvious when you give it a little thought:

Person one will meet the very attractive daughter of a neighbor of the Bonsai Master, fall in love and quickly realize that his obsession with Bonsai will never make him able to support his family decently. He will propose marriage, promising to enter the field of Biotechnology in which he has his degree from a well regarded American university, return to the United States and never waste another minute of his time on Bonsai. In 20 years he and his lovely bride and three handsome children will be prosperous and happy, having completely forgotten the original purpose of his trip to Japan.

Person two will turn out to have a totally unexpected talent for Bonsai and in 3 years will be regarded as the second coming of Kimura and in five the greatest Bonsai Artist in Japan, to say nothing of North America. Unfortunately, it will turn out that he will contract a rare form of Bone Cancer and, despite the best efforts of specialists in Japan and the US, will die from it 6 months after his return to the US. For the next 50 years, bonsai lovers around the world will shake their heads sadly as they talk about the trees he might have created if only he had lived past his 28th birthday.

Now isn't this all obvious from the information you have given us?

Thanks for the opportunity to fully explain the Mystery of Life.

Fred