I realized something while driving home last night...
I was thinking about something my grandfather used to say when we were fishing, something we often did as he had a house on the long island sound, we'd always catch bluefish, lots of them. When we'd pull one in that was big enough to eat we'd bash it's head in with a stout club he kept for that express purpose, but just after we clubbed each one he'd always say: "No fish would ever be caught if they knew to keep their mouths shut, one fish realized this but he starved to death."
Nothing he ever said only meant one thing, but he never explained anything, spelling out the undertones of his rambling just wasn't something he did. But I got to thinking about what this meant about his opinions on free speech, and risk taking in day to day life, and I have that much more respect for him now that I know he really was trying to get a point across with all of his musings as we clubbed the bluefish we caught on the pier behind his house, but no one else seems to have realized it, or maybe no one else cared to talk about it.. but I suspect the prior. It explains a lot about why he was so disappointed with our family, but I guess it's better that I understood him too late for him to know his ideas were passed on than not at all.
Don't ask why I was thinking about my grandfathers musings on bludgeoning fish to death while I was negotiating with rush hour traffic... I wouldn't be able to tell you.
Don't ask why it's bothering me enough to write about it either, I could tell you even less about that.
I was thinking about something my grandfather used to say when we were fishing, something we often did as he had a house on the long island sound, we'd always catch bluefish, lots of them. When we'd pull one in that was big enough to eat we'd bash it's head in with a stout club he kept for that express purpose, but just after we clubbed each one he'd always say: "No fish would ever be caught if they knew to keep their mouths shut, one fish realized this but he starved to death."
Nothing he ever said only meant one thing, but he never explained anything, spelling out the undertones of his rambling just wasn't something he did. But I got to thinking about what this meant about his opinions on free speech, and risk taking in day to day life, and I have that much more respect for him now that I know he really was trying to get a point across with all of his musings as we clubbed the bluefish we caught on the pier behind his house, but no one else seems to have realized it, or maybe no one else cared to talk about it.. but I suspect the prior. It explains a lot about why he was so disappointed with our family, but I guess it's better that I understood him too late for him to know his ideas were passed on than not at all.
Don't ask why I was thinking about my grandfathers musings on bludgeoning fish to death while I was negotiating with rush hour traffic... I wouldn't be able to tell you.
Don't ask why it's bothering me enough to write about it either, I could tell you even less about that.