Psychology Today | 08.05.2026 05:20
In the 1983 movie Local Hero [1], men representing a Texas tycoon try to convince a Scottish beachcomber to sell his beach so the tycoon can build an oil terminal there. You'll be paid millions, the tycoon's reps tell the beachcomber, you'll never have to work again. The beachcomber looks at them in astonishment. "We all have to work," he admonishes the men. Besides, he adds, if he sells his beach, there will be no one to look after it properly.
