A minister passes away and he finds himself at the pearly gates. He walks up to St. Peter and he introduces himself. “My name is Reverend Charles Smith,” he says, expecting to be let into paradise immediately. So St. Peter looks him up in the book, and says to him, “Nice to meet you, Reverend. Why don’t you have a seat over there on that bench and we’ll get to you as soon as we can.” A little taken back, the minister walks over to this little wooden bench and sits down as he was told.
After sitting there a few hours, he sees another man come up to St. Peter, and St. Peter says, “Name?” and the gentleman replies, “My name is Robert Wilkerson.” St. Peter looks it up in the book, “Wilkerson…Wilkerson…ah yes here you are. Robert Wilkerson, you’re the New York heart surgeon. We’ve been expecting you. Come right in.” And in he goes.
A few hours pass by and the minister is still sitting on the bench when another man walks up to St. Peter. “Name?” and the gentleman replies, “My name is Michael Murphy.” St. Peter looks it up in the book, “Murphy…Murphy…ah yes here you are. Michael Murphy, the farmer from Iowa. We’ve been expecting you. Come right in.” And in he goes.
Now the minister is beginning to get a bit miffed by this whole thing. But he decides to sit it out a little longer. A few more hours go by, and finally another man walks up to St. Peter, and St. Peter says, “Name?” and the man replies, “David Stevens.” St. Peter looks in his book and says “David Stevens…the famous hedgefund manager? Well, come right in, we’re very excited to have you here.” The gates open and the hedge fund manager strolls right in, past the minister sitting on the bench.
Well, now the minister has come to the end of his patience, and he marches right up to St. Peter and says, “St. Peter…okay, okay. The doctor, I got that. He saves lives, so of course he goes in. I can understand that. Makes all the sense in the world. And the farmer, all right…an honorable profession, hard worker, helps feed people. I can understand that. He goes in. But the hedge fund manager? How come he waltzes in while I sit on this hard bench?” St. Peter says, “You know, I was trying to be tactful here. Up here we go by results. I didn’t want to say it, but the truth is when you gave your sermons, your congregation slept. When that guy traded…his investors prayed.”
— From Jack D. Schwager's Winning Methods of the Market Wizards (2002)
