12/02/2024
I had a lively discussion with a close friend yesterday and it inspired me to write this. Enjoy :)
Parable of the Colored Fishes
Once upon a time, there was a young man named John who had a big heart for caring for aquarium fishes. He started with just one aquarium filled with brown fishes. He lovingly fed them their favorite brown rice, and they were happy.
John was very dedicated and even gave his fishes extra vitamins three times a year during special days (Ash Wednesday, Easter Sunday, Christmas Day) because he believed these days brought blessings. His fish family grew so much that he kept adding more aquariums!
One day, a friend gave John 12 different pairs of colorful fishes from all around the world. John was thrilled but puzzled about what to feed them. His friend suggested white rice. So, John set up two new aquariums, numbers 19 and 20, for these colorful new guests and fed them white rice.
As time went by, John’s original brown fishes needed more space, so he moved some into the new colorful fish aquariums. He noticed something interesting: the brown fishes started liking the white rice, but the colorful fishes didn't care much for the brown rice; they just took tiny nibbles before going back to their white rice.
Eventually, John decided to feed only white rice to the fishes in aquariums 19 and 20 because the brown rice was left uneaten as the brown fishes preferred the white rice. John kept transferring brown fishes in these aquariums, and soon they were the majority.
Then, Holy Week arrived, a very special time for John. He started feeding his fishes from the first aquarium to the last, adding those extra vitamins he believed in so much.
When he reached aquarium 19, he realized he didn’t have enough white rice or vitamins for both aquariums. He had to make a tough choice. He gave all the remaining white rice to aquarium 19 but without vitamins. Aquarium 20 got brown rice and the last of the vitamins.
The fishes in aquarium 19 ate their white rice happily, but things were different in aquarium 20. The brown fishes ate the brown rice, but the colorful fishes barely touched it, and only a few of them went for the vitamins.
The next day, John changed the water in all the aquariums, not knowing his water supply was contaminated. This led to a big problem for the fishes in aquariums 19 and 20.
In aquarium 19, where fishes didn’t get vitamins, more than half of them, both brown and colorful, couldn’t survive the contaminated water. John felt sad, wishing he had given them vitamins.
In aquarium 20, most of the brown fishes were okay because they had the vitamins, but the colorful fishes, who missed out on both their preferred white rice and the vitamins, didn’t do well at all. About 80% of them didn’t make it.
John learned a hard lesson about the importance of not just feeding his fishes, but making sure they all got what they needed to stay strong, especially in tough times. He realized that caring for someone means making sure they have not just what they like, but also what they need to be their best selves.
