A FISH STORY
Today’s story is about a fish. Not just any fish. A catfish. Not just any catfish. A big catfish. Just how big was this catfish? Well, I’m glad you asked. This catfish was, well, it was big. I’m guessing that most of you haven’t seen a really big catfish. How many of you have seen a catfish more than, say, ten feet long? I thought not. The catfish just aren’t as big as they used to be. I don’t know why. Must be something in the water. When my sister and I were little, there was a catfish in the pond near our log cabin that was really big. It was so big that it couldn’t submerge completely in the pond and would swim around with its back out of the water. My sister and I would swim out and climb up on the back of the catfish and jump off. I never knew how the fish felt about being used as a diving board.
I thought about this some years later when my grandchildren were jumping on me. The more I groaned, the more they seemed to enjoy it.
Well, one day as we swam out to our swimming platform, we noticed something different. There was something on the back of the catfish. It was a nest. Someone, or something, had built a nest right where we used to jump off. Well, it was a bird! Not just any bird. It was a great blue heron. And there were eggs in the nest. For the rest of the summer, that heron raised its chicks there. The nest was attached to that spiny part that sticks up from the back of the catfish.
Eventually, the chicks grew up and flew away. And on the last day that the heron needed the nest, it did something strange. It flew out and came back with a small fish in its mouth, well, beak, and dropped it in the water,
right in front of the catfish.
Now, people who claim to know a lot more about catfish than I do, have told me that no self-respecting catfish would ever eat something dropped in front of it by a bird. But here’s my question. If you try to do something nice, but it turns out to be not quite right, does the good intention still count?
Today’s story is about a fish. Not just any fish. A catfish. Not just any catfish. A big catfish. Just how big was this catfish? Well, I’m glad you asked. This catfish was, well, it was big. I’m guessing that most of you haven’t seen a really big catfish. How many of you have seen a catfish more than, say, ten feet long? I thought not. The catfish just aren’t as big as they used to be. I don’t know why. Must be something in the water. When my sister and I were little, there was a catfish in the pond near our log cabin that was really big. It was so big that it couldn’t submerge completely in the pond and would swim around with its back out of the water. My sister and I would swim out and climb up on the back of the catfish and jump off. I never knew how the fish felt about being used as a diving board.
I thought about this some years later when my grandchildren were jumping on me. The more I groaned, the more they seemed to enjoy it.
Well, one day as we swam out to our swimming platform, we noticed something different. There was something on the back of the catfish. It was a nest. Someone, or something, had built a nest right where we used to jump off. Well, it was a bird! Not just any bird. It was a great blue heron. And there were eggs in the nest. For the rest of the summer, that heron raised its chicks there. The nest was attached to that spiny part that sticks up from the back of the catfish.
Eventually, the chicks grew up and flew away. And on the last day that the heron needed the nest, it did something strange. It flew out and came back with a small fish in its mouth, well, beak, and dropped it in the water,
right in front of the catfish.
Now, people who claim to know a lot more about catfish than I do, have told me that no self-respecting catfish would ever eat something dropped in front of it by a bird. But here’s my question. If you try to do something nice, but it turns out to be not quite right, does the good intention still count?