Big Imaginations Big Fish

I've always liked to fish. As a kid, my dad used to take me and my sister fishing in the lake at the end of our street.  We'd walk out to the middle of one of the docks, cast our lines into the waves, and wait patiently for our poles to arch and our red and white bobbers to disappear from view. Most of the fish we snagged were crappie, a very popular fish in the area, and if we caught enough, my dad would fillet the lot, then hand them off to my mother to fry for dinner.

One afternoon while playing on the shallow end of the docks, fishing poles in tow, my sister and I found a huge dead carp washed up on the shore. Although its gills were somewhat bloated, its body was still firm and intact. Employing child-like logic, we decided to bring home our fish for dinner. With great effort, we secured the fleshy lip of the carp onto the hook of one of the fishing poles, locked the reel, and leaving just enough line free to drag him on the ground behind us, we started for the house. That's when we saw my dad and my uncle walking down the hill toward us. As they drew closer, we launched into our big fish story and attempted to answer their questions. Yes, we'd been fishing. Yes, we hooked the fish and together, pulled him to shore where he instantly died. No, we did not know the type of fish we'd caught, but we knew he was big enough to feed everyone in the family. A carp, you say. We caught a carp? Not a crappie, but a carp? Wow - well what do you know!

Experienced in the ways of fishing and lying little girls, it didn't take my dad and uncle long to figure out we'd tied a dead fish to the end of our line, and made up the rest of the story. After a little laughter, a little shaking of their heads, and a lecture as to why dead bloated fish are not good to eat, they unhooked the carp from the line, and escorted us, along with our big imaginations, home.

When I tell this story, I am reminded of how life often imitates fishing. We chase our dreams and strive on a daily basis to reach our goals. However, as life progresses, we grow weary, and become bogged down due to stress, failure,and fear. As our disillusionment increases, our imaginations often decrease and as a result, we lose our focus, and our drive. In essence, we become mediocre fishermen with modified standards, content to tie our line to any type of method, even a dead one, just to say we made the effort.  If we truly want to progress, however, we have to let go of what weighs us down. We can't rely on shortcuts and ineffective techniques. Instead, we must commit on a daily basis to reactivate our imaginations, cast our lines into fresh waters, and seize new opportunities.