Life as a goldfish

One of the goldfish just died this morning. There were two of them, one wholly orange, one with its bottom half silver. And less than 12 hours ago, the silver-bellied one lies at the bottom of the temporary fishbowl - just a plastic container actually. Nobody realised it died till my bro came back from school at 'round 2pm. Yeah i had been sleeping till late afternoon.. again. The strange thing is, i dreamed that same goldfish died last night. Coincidence. Strange. It didn't seem to want to eat the night before. Maybe that explains its death. Or my dream.

Yeah it's just a goldfish, its life not celebrated, its death not mourned. It did not even get buried, let alone get a funeral. Just a flush down the toilet. I don't want to think where it'll end up.

That's life for a goldfish. Living in a fishbowl its whole life. Doing nothing except eat and swim round and round the same confined space. Until finally death liberates it from this watery hell. It lives for the pleasure of us humans. I don't think that's even a good reason for living. Sick, that's what we are. Humans are sick. Tell me that deriving pleasure from watching goldfish trapped in a fishbowl is not sick.

There's even a 'Calvin and Hobbes' comic strip related to this. To quote it,

Calvin : Look, I caught a butterfly!
(showing Hobbes a butterfly trapped in a jar)
Hobbes : If people could put rainbows in zoos, they'd do it.

How true. I guess that's human for you.

I think at this point you'd have realise i'm an animal lover. Not those who go around showing off their birds in cages, fish in ponds, or dogs on leashes. They should be ashamed they even dare to call themselves animal lovers. More like animal torturers to me. Isn't limiting someone's freedom a torture to that person? I rather see them live as they truly deserve to live their lives. Free. That's why i never liked zoos.

Sigh. I'd have studied veterinary if not that i think it'll be hard to find work later. Yeah, i'm selfish. Isn't that just being human?

-1.57am, 17 August 2005-