Fish Love
“A man chanced on a brother feasting on a fish meal and asked: “why are you eating this fish?” The brother replied, “because I love fish”. The man further asked, “if you love it, then why are you eating it?”. He continued, “no you do not love the fish, you love yourself. You love how it tastes in your mouth and how happy that makes you feel — else you would not have picked it out of the water, killed and ate it”. — Sadguru
Fish Love. This is a concept abundant yet barely known. Lived by a lot, yet barely owned. With a sweet-singing number of new loves every day, it is quite surprising to see the complimenting high number of ‘love fall-outs’ also every day. Are we just incompatible people? Or are we too badly broken? Maybe neither.
Contrarily, I believe we are fine — only mostly loving a “Fish Love”. A love of benefits, a love of gains. A love of becauses and a love of profits. A love that is perfect once and so long as it has gains that satisfy our souls. They are often “the best we’ve ever had” when we see only their sunlight; they are the charm when they fit the bill, our bill. But what happens to all their good when they falter or when they make mistakes? Where do we place them when they come short of a thing or two of our perfection list? Do we find them despicable, trample on them and all their history of good, or do we let it all away — damning and condemning them in all ways?
The sad reality is, real love is messy. It is they that take you deep out to sea that run the risk of breaking your oar or even two. Real love is that which will run out intermittently because it will never cease giving. Real love is that which will show you charred hands that still want to hold on to your white soul. Real love is that which hangs naked on a cross in your name when we cast the stone.
Fish love loves because of; real love loves in spite of. Real love messes and comes down for a second chance. Real love forgives, real love restores. Yes, they are a million and one twists to these thoughts, but give or take, the test of the genuineness of heart, was when things went south. Everybody can love a rose, but it takes something real to love a leaf. An old woman once said, “real love, genuine care, will never go away — it will not ever to hatred turn”. Fish love will disappear, so long as the fish is gone. Because the love was a feeling, which was always fleeing.
If you ever experienced the contrasting two, you’d have lived a really learned life. It is a thrill to experience a love and appreciation that remained and persisted in spite of all your flaws. That is a love worth having, a love worth keeping, a love worth saving. A love worth dying for.
