Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The goldfish lesson

This summer I got to meet my best friend Paula, she lives in Germany and last time we met was more than two years ago, so we had a lot of catching up to do. I told Paula how I want to do more, be more and achieve more than the little I’ve been doing so far. She told me
“Did you ever hear the story of the gold fish?” and then she told me about it, and when I went home I looked it up. Here it is, written by Peter Story:

When I was a kid, I saw plenty of goldfish in the houses of my friends, and I remember wondering why so many people would want to keep such small, unexciting creatures as pets.
Then one day, when I was about ten years old, I went on a school filed trip to a botanical garden that had a pond stocked with fish. One especially large, brilliantly colored fish stood out to me.
“What kind of fish is that one?” I asked our guide
“That’s a goldfish,” she replied.
I was confused “Aren’t goldfish supposed to be small?” I asked
“Not at all,” she replied “Goldfish will grow even larger than these. It really just depends on the size of their environment.”


Isn’t it sad that we keep swimming in a little bowl, and stay small, when expanding our horizons will make us grow accordingly? Paula reminded me that I don’t have to be content with going around in circles when I could swim oceans. Thank you Paula for your encouragement!