Catfish
Sermon
Life Injections II
Further Connections Of Scripture To The Human Experience
... we even boast of our afflictions ...
We may not appreciate problems or difficulties but they can work a blessing.
In the days of old, fishermen who sailed the seas had wells sunk into the bottoms of their boats. When they caught or netted fish, they placed them in those wells where they stayed alive until the boat reached the shore. One of the problems encountered by those fishermen was that the fish in those wells would lose their vigor and vitality. The cramped environment took "the wind out of their gills" and when they'd be emptied into bins for sale to the fish dealers, they didn't appear freshly caught and the consumer would complain as to their taste and their flavor.
That was true of all the fishing boats and all the fishermen save one. That one brought fish to shore that looked as though they'd just been caught. Fish dealers literally fought for the right to buy his fish. Not only did they look the freshest but consumers claimed they were the best when it came to flavor. His fellow fishermen held the man in awe. They longed to learn how he could deliver fish that appeared so much fresher and healthier than their own. The matter remained a mystery until the day of the old fisherman's death when, according to her father's instructions, his daughter revealed the secret.
Her father, she said, kept a ferocious catfish in the well of his boat. Although that catfish would eat a few of the fish, it kept the other fish moving, stirring, and on the alert, fighting for their very lives. When those fish were emptied into the bins of those dealers on shore, they looked fresh and healthy and as if they'd just been hooked out of the deep blue sea.
Lest we think that fisherman cruel for inserting an ugly and hostile catfish in the well of his ship, consider the fact that it ensured that the highest quality of fish would make it to the marketplace. Although those fish may not have appreciated the fight for their lives, it made them the most popular of all the fish caught that day.
I tell you that fish story because I believe there is a lot of similarity between that story and life. Many people have risen to extraordinary heights, many have excelled in life, many have won great admiration, many have become human beings of the highest possible quality and caliber thanks, in no small measure, to a catfish that got dropped into the well of their life.
I read an article on depression that named child prodigies as the group most highly susceptible to depression once they reach adulthood. In their analysis, the authors of the article pointed to the fact that those children were not used to failure, or trauma, or difficulty. Their amazing skills and talents came their way naturally with little or no struggle on their part, and their application of those skills and talents resulted in their experiencing one success after another. Their childhood was virtually free of any experience that hinted of adversity and, being special, they were often treated as celebrities. They were treated "with kid gloves."
So when these child prodigies made their way into adulthood and began experiencing the usual problems that accompany that move, they had no coping skills, they had no experience at dealing with adversity. Simple problems proved overwhelming and minor difficulties proved monumental. That would result in bout after bout of depression.
As a general rule, most children share the well of their life with a catfish, which means that hardly a day will go by when they won't stub their toe or find a toy broken or get swatted by a playmate or meet up with failure or meet with the realization that they can't always get their way. The plus side of the catfish, the good of the adversity, is that it will promote maturity, it will hone coping skills and will, most especially and importantly, make him or her an adult able and ready to face the abundance of difficulties and problems associated with adulthood. They will be more resistant to the depression that afflicts child prodigies whose childhood was no way near as difficult as theirs.
Catfish in our wells do an excellent job of preparing us for life's inevitable shortcomings and disasters. Besides that, they also help breed compassion.
One day, an eight-year-old boy and his dad entered a pet store in search of a puppy. As they looked over a litter of newborns, the boy couldn't help but notice one puppy with a limp. Inquiring as to the limp, he was told by the store manager that the puppy was born with a bad leg and nothing could be done to fix it. The boy quickly turned to his dad and, after a short conversation, the dad told the manager that he wished to purchase the puppy with the limp. The manager, a bit dumbfounded, said: "You know this dog is never going to run and jump and play with your son. How about I sell you one of the healthier ones?" Upon hearing that, the boy reached down and rolled up one side of his pants revealing a badly crippled leg supported by a metal brace. He looked up at the manager and said: "Look, Mister, I don't run or jump well myself. The little puppy with the limp is the one I want. I understand what he is going through, and he's going to need someone who understands."
A catfish in the well of our life is a great provider of compassion and understanding. Having a taste of the pain and suffering and trials common to life means we are less likely to be as self-righteous, as callous, as judgmental, or as apathetic as might be the case with those who have never known adversity, those who never had a catfish fall into the well of their life.
It reminds me of a Peanuts cartoon that happened to appear on Thanksgiving Day. Linus asked Charlie Brown if he was going to have a big meal. Charlie says: "I guess so, but I don't think much about food!" Then Snoopy lets out this huff. Looking at his empty dish, he says to himself: "Charlie would think a lot about food if his dish were as empty as mine!" Catfish do a great job of acquainting us with adversity, of acquainting us with the kind of hardships that some people go through in spades.
The third thing that catfish can do is to call out from us talent and ability, which may have never been uncovered had adversity not come our way. Oliver Goldsmith had his heart set on being a doctor but his application to medical school was met with rejection. He was bitterly disappointed but in his disappointment he turned to writing. Eight years later, The Vicar of Wakefield,1 one of literature's great classics, was given to the world. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Charles Dickens had a similar experience. Dickens had his heart set on being an actor while Hawthorne wished to be a customs official. Neither one could realize his dream; in their disappointment, they turned to writing. Three of history's greatest writers may never have practiced their craft had a catfish called disappointment not been dropped into the wells of their lives.
Catfish can help us prepare for life's inevitable shortcomings. They can help us be more compassionate. They can help us unearth talent and ability we may never have known we had. Fourthly, they can be great teachers.
When Ben Franklin was seven years old he made a mistake which he remembered for seventy years. When he was a lad of seven, he fell in love with a whistle. He was so excited about it that he went to the toy shop, piled his money on the counter, and demanded the whistle, not caring or thinking at all of the price.
"I then came home," he wrote to a friend seventy years later, "and went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle. But then I got scolded for making all kinds of noise and, when they learned what I had paid for the whistle, they laughed and laughed because I had paid ten times what it was actually worth. The tears and the embarrassment which that provided me," wrote Franklin, "helped teach me a lesson that stayed with me my entire life."
From that day forward, Ben Franklin became very vigilant. He would always make sure that something was of value before he would ever invest the time, the energy, and the money which that something may have required. The catfish that entered Ben Franklin's well at the age of seven proved to be an invaluable teacher.
That holds true as well for other catfish that enter life's well. The irritation, the adversity, the embarrassment, the pain they may cause can help steer a life away from the pitfalls and traps common to the more naive and less enlightened among us.
I am reminded of one of the theories as to why Jimmy Carter failed as a president. The fault, it was claimed, rested with his advisors. It was theorized that they were too young and too inexperienced. Had they been older and thus more familiar with the disappointments, the problems, and the difficulties common to the Washington scene, Jimmy Carter might not have been led into the kind of mistakes which resulted in his downfall as president. A catfish in our well provides us with experience in dealing with adversity, experience that provides invaluable lessons as to what we should or should not do when it comes to our carving a successful path through life.
Catfish can help us prepare for life's inevitable shortcomings, they can help us be more compassionate, they can help us unearth talent we never knew we had, they can be great teachers, and lastly they can be the stimulant for a great life.
A colleague took his son to see the Great Barrier Reef that stretches 1,800 miles from New Guinea to Australia. He noted that the coral polyps on the reef facing the quiet and tranquil lagoon appeared pale and lifeless. The coral facing the pounding waves and surging tides of the open sea were bright and vibrant with splendid colors and very flowery growth. Asking a guide the reason for the difference, my colleague was told that it was very simple. The coral on the lagoon side gets no stimulation so its growth is very stunted. The coral facing the surging power of the open sea thrives and multiplies because it is challenged and tested and stimulated by the pounding of the waves.
What holds true for coral holds true for us. The catfish in the well of a life, the failure and trouble that life can deliver, will often stimulate us and challenge us and push us to heights we may never have reached had the water in our wells not had a catfish to stir things up. Consider, if you will, the best teachers we ever had. They probably weren't very popular during our tenure at school precisely because of their catfish qualities. But thanks to those qualities, we put our nose to the grindstone and learned our lessons and we're the better for it today.
Saint Paul, in our second reading, talks about how people of faith boast of their afflictions. They boast of their afflictions because the overwhelming majority saw those afflictions as doing to them what the catfish did to those fish in the well of the old fisherman's boat. It made them people of the highest possible quality and caliber.
My friends, if a catfish falls into the well of your life, consider it a blessing. Unlike the child prodigy, you will be less prone to depression. Like the boy and that puppy, you will be better able to understand and sympathize with those who are hurting. Like Dickens and Hawthorne and Goldsmith, you may find a talent that you might not have otherwise discovered. Like Ben Franklin, you will know better the next time you are tempted to invest in something that isn't worth the investment. Like the coral on the ocean side of the Great Barrier Reef, you will be more vibrant, more alive, and more colorful. My friends, you may never have thought of boasting of your afflictions, but maybe you should. Maybe after leaving aside the pain or the indignity they may have caused you, you'll find that they've done you well!
____________
1. Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield (New York: Penguin Books, 1982).
We may not appreciate problems or difficulties but they can work a blessing.
In the days of old, fishermen who sailed the seas had wells sunk into the bottoms of their boats. When they caught or netted fish, they placed them in those wells where they stayed alive until the boat reached the shore. One of the problems encountered by those fishermen was that the fish in those wells would lose their vigor and vitality. The cramped environment took "the wind out of their gills" and when they'd be emptied into bins for sale to the fish dealers, they didn't appear freshly caught and the consumer would complain as to their taste and their flavor.
That was true of all the fishing boats and all the fishermen save one. That one brought fish to shore that looked as though they'd just been caught. Fish dealers literally fought for the right to buy his fish. Not only did they look the freshest but consumers claimed they were the best when it came to flavor. His fellow fishermen held the man in awe. They longed to learn how he could deliver fish that appeared so much fresher and healthier than their own. The matter remained a mystery until the day of the old fisherman's death when, according to her father's instructions, his daughter revealed the secret.
Her father, she said, kept a ferocious catfish in the well of his boat. Although that catfish would eat a few of the fish, it kept the other fish moving, stirring, and on the alert, fighting for their very lives. When those fish were emptied into the bins of those dealers on shore, they looked fresh and healthy and as if they'd just been hooked out of the deep blue sea.
Lest we think that fisherman cruel for inserting an ugly and hostile catfish in the well of his ship, consider the fact that it ensured that the highest quality of fish would make it to the marketplace. Although those fish may not have appreciated the fight for their lives, it made them the most popular of all the fish caught that day.
I tell you that fish story because I believe there is a lot of similarity between that story and life. Many people have risen to extraordinary heights, many have excelled in life, many have won great admiration, many have become human beings of the highest possible quality and caliber thanks, in no small measure, to a catfish that got dropped into the well of their life.
I read an article on depression that named child prodigies as the group most highly susceptible to depression once they reach adulthood. In their analysis, the authors of the article pointed to the fact that those children were not used to failure, or trauma, or difficulty. Their amazing skills and talents came their way naturally with little or no struggle on their part, and their application of those skills and talents resulted in their experiencing one success after another. Their childhood was virtually free of any experience that hinted of adversity and, being special, they were often treated as celebrities. They were treated "with kid gloves."
So when these child prodigies made their way into adulthood and began experiencing the usual problems that accompany that move, they had no coping skills, they had no experience at dealing with adversity. Simple problems proved overwhelming and minor difficulties proved monumental. That would result in bout after bout of depression.
As a general rule, most children share the well of their life with a catfish, which means that hardly a day will go by when they won't stub their toe or find a toy broken or get swatted by a playmate or meet up with failure or meet with the realization that they can't always get their way. The plus side of the catfish, the good of the adversity, is that it will promote maturity, it will hone coping skills and will, most especially and importantly, make him or her an adult able and ready to face the abundance of difficulties and problems associated with adulthood. They will be more resistant to the depression that afflicts child prodigies whose childhood was no way near as difficult as theirs.
Catfish in our wells do an excellent job of preparing us for life's inevitable shortcomings and disasters. Besides that, they also help breed compassion.
One day, an eight-year-old boy and his dad entered a pet store in search of a puppy. As they looked over a litter of newborns, the boy couldn't help but notice one puppy with a limp. Inquiring as to the limp, he was told by the store manager that the puppy was born with a bad leg and nothing could be done to fix it. The boy quickly turned to his dad and, after a short conversation, the dad told the manager that he wished to purchase the puppy with the limp. The manager, a bit dumbfounded, said: "You know this dog is never going to run and jump and play with your son. How about I sell you one of the healthier ones?" Upon hearing that, the boy reached down and rolled up one side of his pants revealing a badly crippled leg supported by a metal brace. He looked up at the manager and said: "Look, Mister, I don't run or jump well myself. The little puppy with the limp is the one I want. I understand what he is going through, and he's going to need someone who understands."
A catfish in the well of our life is a great provider of compassion and understanding. Having a taste of the pain and suffering and trials common to life means we are less likely to be as self-righteous, as callous, as judgmental, or as apathetic as might be the case with those who have never known adversity, those who never had a catfish fall into the well of their life.
It reminds me of a Peanuts cartoon that happened to appear on Thanksgiving Day. Linus asked Charlie Brown if he was going to have a big meal. Charlie says: "I guess so, but I don't think much about food!" Then Snoopy lets out this huff. Looking at his empty dish, he says to himself: "Charlie would think a lot about food if his dish were as empty as mine!" Catfish do a great job of acquainting us with adversity, of acquainting us with the kind of hardships that some people go through in spades.
The third thing that catfish can do is to call out from us talent and ability, which may have never been uncovered had adversity not come our way. Oliver Goldsmith had his heart set on being a doctor but his application to medical school was met with rejection. He was bitterly disappointed but in his disappointment he turned to writing. Eight years later, The Vicar of Wakefield,1 one of literature's great classics, was given to the world. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Charles Dickens had a similar experience. Dickens had his heart set on being an actor while Hawthorne wished to be a customs official. Neither one could realize his dream; in their disappointment, they turned to writing. Three of history's greatest writers may never have practiced their craft had a catfish called disappointment not been dropped into the wells of their lives.
Catfish can help us prepare for life's inevitable shortcomings. They can help us be more compassionate. They can help us unearth talent and ability we may never have known we had. Fourthly, they can be great teachers.
When Ben Franklin was seven years old he made a mistake which he remembered for seventy years. When he was a lad of seven, he fell in love with a whistle. He was so excited about it that he went to the toy shop, piled his money on the counter, and demanded the whistle, not caring or thinking at all of the price.
"I then came home," he wrote to a friend seventy years later, "and went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle. But then I got scolded for making all kinds of noise and, when they learned what I had paid for the whistle, they laughed and laughed because I had paid ten times what it was actually worth. The tears and the embarrassment which that provided me," wrote Franklin, "helped teach me a lesson that stayed with me my entire life."
From that day forward, Ben Franklin became very vigilant. He would always make sure that something was of value before he would ever invest the time, the energy, and the money which that something may have required. The catfish that entered Ben Franklin's well at the age of seven proved to be an invaluable teacher.
That holds true as well for other catfish that enter life's well. The irritation, the adversity, the embarrassment, the pain they may cause can help steer a life away from the pitfalls and traps common to the more naive and less enlightened among us.
I am reminded of one of the theories as to why Jimmy Carter failed as a president. The fault, it was claimed, rested with his advisors. It was theorized that they were too young and too inexperienced. Had they been older and thus more familiar with the disappointments, the problems, and the difficulties common to the Washington scene, Jimmy Carter might not have been led into the kind of mistakes which resulted in his downfall as president. A catfish in our well provides us with experience in dealing with adversity, experience that provides invaluable lessons as to what we should or should not do when it comes to our carving a successful path through life.
Catfish can help us prepare for life's inevitable shortcomings, they can help us be more compassionate, they can help us unearth talent we never knew we had, they can be great teachers, and lastly they can be the stimulant for a great life.
A colleague took his son to see the Great Barrier Reef that stretches 1,800 miles from New Guinea to Australia. He noted that the coral polyps on the reef facing the quiet and tranquil lagoon appeared pale and lifeless. The coral facing the pounding waves and surging tides of the open sea were bright and vibrant with splendid colors and very flowery growth. Asking a guide the reason for the difference, my colleague was told that it was very simple. The coral on the lagoon side gets no stimulation so its growth is very stunted. The coral facing the surging power of the open sea thrives and multiplies because it is challenged and tested and stimulated by the pounding of the waves.
What holds true for coral holds true for us. The catfish in the well of a life, the failure and trouble that life can deliver, will often stimulate us and challenge us and push us to heights we may never have reached had the water in our wells not had a catfish to stir things up. Consider, if you will, the best teachers we ever had. They probably weren't very popular during our tenure at school precisely because of their catfish qualities. But thanks to those qualities, we put our nose to the grindstone and learned our lessons and we're the better for it today.
Saint Paul, in our second reading, talks about how people of faith boast of their afflictions. They boast of their afflictions because the overwhelming majority saw those afflictions as doing to them what the catfish did to those fish in the well of the old fisherman's boat. It made them people of the highest possible quality and caliber.
My friends, if a catfish falls into the well of your life, consider it a blessing. Unlike the child prodigy, you will be less prone to depression. Like the boy and that puppy, you will be better able to understand and sympathize with those who are hurting. Like Dickens and Hawthorne and Goldsmith, you may find a talent that you might not have otherwise discovered. Like Ben Franklin, you will know better the next time you are tempted to invest in something that isn't worth the investment. Like the coral on the ocean side of the Great Barrier Reef, you will be more vibrant, more alive, and more colorful. My friends, you may never have thought of boasting of your afflictions, but maybe you should. Maybe after leaving aside the pain or the indignity they may have caused you, you'll find that they've done you well!
____________
1. Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield (New York: Penguin Books, 1982).
