Perceptions #200309

"Right is Right, No Matter If Anyone is Looking!"

Author Unknown

An 11 year-old boy was fishing with his dad from a dock at their family's cabin in New Hampshire on a day before the bass season opened. It was early in the evening and they were catching perch with worms. The boy tied a silver spoon onto his line and practiced casting. On the third cast the boy's pole doubled over. He and his father knew there was a big fish on the other end of the line. Finally the boy landed the exhausted fish. It was the largest one he had ever seen. (The fish was a bass)

The boy and his daddy admired this beautiful fish, gills pulsing back and forth in the moonlight. The father looked at his watch under the pier light. It was 10:00 P. M - two hours before bass season opened. He looked at the fish and said, "You'll have to release it, son." "Dad!" the boy hollered. "There will be another fish," said the father." "Not as big as this one!" the boy said - as the tears began to flow.

The boy looked around the lake. There was no one else around. He looked again at his dad who knew what his son was thinking. Even though no one had seen them, nor could anyone ever know the hour when the fish was caught, the boy could tell by the clarity of his father's voice that the decision was not negotiable. The boy unhooked the fish and released it back into the lake. The bass swished his might tail and swam into legend. The boy suspected that never again would he catch such a magnificent fish.

Today the boy is a successful architect and takes his own children fishing on the same dock. He was right. He hasn't ever caught such a monstrous fish as the one he landed that night with his dad. But he can still see the fish - every time he is faced with a question of ethics. His father taught him that right is right, regardless if anyone is watching. Life is not about beating the system. It's about doing right!

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