I knew that night would be his last, and though I'm not the praying sort, I prayed he would get the blissful relief he deserved. I cried into my pillow. Even after I found him motionless the next morning, I struggled to accept his death. Humans don't have feelings for fish, I told myself. But humans do have feelings for fish, because fish, like all other animals, are just people that look different.
People can have four legs, fur, tails, feathers, fins, scales and even exoskeletons.
Some are simpler biologically, but we could learn from those who instinctively understand their place in the life cycle. We think we walk on dead concrete, but we actually traverse over living soil. We ignore the rustle of the wind through the trees and dismiss the caw of crows, but they are essential elements of the organism of which we are an extension. We are not separate from this planet as we believe, and if we pretend to have no feelings for the people around us we cut ourselves off from life. We must listen to the wind.