Some people shoot for fun. Marksmen, shooting at targets on their free Saturday or Thursday evening. They've even got their own categories at the Olympic Games, with medals and all.
Marksmen have their own jokes too, and one of them is about the English marksman.
A Dutch amateur marksman was on a walking holiday in England. He was rambling up hill and down dale when he noticed a beech tree with a target painted on it. He walked up to it and saw a bullet hole, right in the bull's-eye.
Now this is pretty unusual. You hit the bull's-eye now and again, but there are always a few other holes in the rest of the target. And sometimes even outside it. Pretty damn good, thought the Dutch marksman, and walked on to the next village.
When he got there he was amazed to see a fence with a target on it, and this target too had a single hole right in the bull's-eye. Incredible!
Our marksman went into the local pub and asked the landlord who this village marksman was. The landlord burst out laughing. Oh no, he said, he isn't a marksman, he's the village painter. First he shoots, and then he paints a target around it.
A lot of strategic plans resemble the work of English marksmen. You take last year's plan. Then you make it next year's plan. Then you paint a lot of words around it which are intended to show that the plan is a real bull's-eye.
It's a good thing your plans are created very differently, isn't it?
