Tales from the depths of our personal lives emerge as metaphorical tales that for other than the purpose of sharing, may serve to provide insight to others.
Once there was a fisherman who had a special fishing technique...
The fisherman would cast several lines with bait in the water and wait.
When a fish took the bait, the hook would land in the flesh of the fish.
And stay there, for the fisherman would not pull in the baited fish.
The fish would remain in its natural habitat, the sea.
Free to roam, free to breathe, free to live, but hooked.
And a firm hook it was, a hurting hook it was.
Thus, several fishes were hooked and the fisherman was content.
For the fisherman had what the fisherman aimed for. Control.
Where this desire came from is uncertain, but, it’s part of some humans' nature.
The ability to influence the life of another being. Power.
As was to be expected this situation could not last.
The hooked fish wanted to be free. Independent.
Where this desire came from is uncertain, but it is a characteristic of most living beings.
The desire to choose their own destiny. Freedom.
One day, one of the fishes managed to free itself from the hook.
It wasn’t easy. The fight for its freedom came at a great cost.
The wounds inflicted by the hook would need time to heal.
But the fish would survive the ordeal and prosper.
The fisherman was outraged, incensed at the boldness of the now free fish.
If the hook hadn’t been enough, some explosives should do the job.
Control had gone, but still, there was the power to blow the fish out of the water.
Disregarding the consequences, the fisherman set out to do just that.
Several attempts were made to dynamite the fish, but the fish miraculously escaped each time.
It must have been a bizarre scene to the onlooker. The fisherman, with all its tools of power,
giving chase to the fish who just had the simple desire to be free.
Eventually, the chase ended when the fisherman tripped over one of its own fishing lines and the hook landed in its own flesh this time. And a firm hook it was, a hurting hook it was.
What was it in the fishermans' nature? The need to destroy that what it once had controlled.
Was it the pain over the loss of the fish?
Then why was the fisherman unable to empathize with the fishes’ pain over the hook in its flesh.
Surely, if one feels its own pain, one must be able to feel the pain of others?
As this tale continues, people in the area heard the sound of the explosions and came to see the spectacle,
without understanding what the situation was about.
They saw the fisherman stumbling but did not notice the fish slipping away to open waters.
The people offered the fisherman help but the fisherman refused.
As nothing else happened, the people left.
A couple of days later, the local newspaper who had picked up on the story
managed to unravel some of the background and the fisherman’s motives in an interview.
The fisherman stated, "it all happened out of love for the fish”. 'The fisherman craved for fish,
'but was incapable to be loved by the fish' as one of the journalists aptly noted.
As a child, the fisherman had been deprived of fish and now the fisherman’s single biggest goal in life was to have fish.
To be with fish, to possess fish. There was never any intention to hurt or destroy the fish.
“I was frustrated” the fisherman declared in a rare moment of self-consciousness.
“It felt like I had lost a friend”.
'A friend you never asked to be friends with… a friend whom you kept on a hook and a leash'
the journalists rebuffed.
The fisherman fell silent and looked puzzled. The journalists noticed that the fisherman
was unable to grasp the concept of friendship
as being one of equality, mutual understanding, and respect.
Upon hitting this dead-end the journalists left and published their story with the caption
'of the fisherman, the hook and the fish'
So what happened to the fisherman, the hook, and the fish that escaped?
One might wonder…
Well, the fisherman got married, somehow...
And the fish? The fish is probably roaming the high seas.
Nobody really knows what happened to the fish.
And the hook?
The hook is buried deep underneath the sands of the local bay...