The fish that was thirsty (reflection)
One night a baby fish was sleeping under some coral when
God appeared to him in a dream. "I want you to go forth
with a message to all the fish in the sea," God said.
"What should I tell them?" the little fish asked.
"Just tell them you're thirsty," God replied.
"And see what they do." Then without
another word, He disappeared.
The next morning the little fish woke up and remembered
his dream. "What a strange thing God wants me to do,"
he thought to himself. But as soon as he saw a large tuna
swimming by, the little fish piped up, "Excuse me, but I'm
thirsty." "Then you must be a fool," then tuna said. And
with a disdainful flick of his tail, he swam away. The little
fish did feel rather foolish, but he had his orders. The next
fish he saw was a grinning shark. Keeping a safe distance,
the little fish called out, "Excuse me, sir, but I'm thirsty."
"Then you must be crazy," the shark replied. Noticing
a rather hungry look in the shark's eye, the little fish
swam away quickly.
All day he met cod and mackerels and swordfish and
groupers, but every time he made his short speech, they
turned their backs and would have nothing to do with him.
Feeling hopelessly confused, the little fish sought out the
wisest creature in the sea, who happened to be an old blue
whale with three harpoon scars on his side. "Excuse me,
but I'm thirsty!" the little fish shouted, wondering if the old
whale could even see him, he was such a tiny speck. But
the wise one stopped in his tracks. "You've seen God,
haven't you?" he said. "How did you know?" "Because I
was thirsty once, too." The old whale laughed.
The little fish looked very surprised. "Please tell me
what this message from God means," he implored.
"It means that we are looking for Him in the wrong
places," the old whale explained. "We look high
and low for God, but somehow He's not there.
So we blame Him and tell ourselves that He must
have forgotten us. Or else we decide that He left
a long time ago, if He was ever around."
"How strange," the little fish said, "to miss
what is everywhere." "Very strange," the old
whale agreed. "Doesn't it remind you of fish
who say they're thirsty?"
