The fish that was thirsty (reflection)
One night a baby fish was sleeping under some coral whenGod appeared to him in a dream. "I want you to go forthwith 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 withoutanother word, He disappeared.
The next morning the little fish woke up and rememberedhis dream. "What a strange thing God wants me to do,"he thought to himself. But as soon as he saw a large tunaswimming by, the little fish piped up, "Excuse me, but I'mthirsty." "Then you must be a fool," then tuna said. Andwith a disdainful flick of his tail, he swam away. The littlefish did feel rather foolish, but he had his orders. The nextfish 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. Noticinga rather hungry look in the shark's eye, the little fishswam away quickly.
All day he met cod and mackerels and swordfish andgroupers, but every time he made his short speech, theyturned their backs and would have nothing to do with him.Feeling hopelessly confused, the little fish sought out thewisest creature in the sea, who happened to be an old bluewhale with three harpoon scars on his side. "Excuse me,but I'm thirsty!" the little fish shouted, wondering if the oldwhale could even see him, he was such a tiny speck. Butthe wise one stopped in his tracks. "You've seen God,haven't you?" he said. "How did you know?" "Because Iwas thirsty once, too." The old whale laughed.
The little fish looked very surprised. "Please tell mewhat this message from God means," he implored."It means that we are looking for Him in the wrongplaces," the old whale explained. "We look highand low for God, but somehow He's not there.So we blame Him and tell ourselves that He musthave forgotten us. Or else we decide that He lefta long time ago, if He was ever around."
"How strange," the little fish said, "to misswhat is everywhere." "Very strange," the oldwhale agreed. "Doesn't it remind you of fishwho say they're thirsty?"