Bass Digest/May, 2014
Things I Ponder While Fishing
A young bass, in his early teens, is living in a reasonably big pond on a farm. I say "reasonably big", but that is in human terms. As far as our fish knows (let's just call him Fred), he is not living in a pond on a farm. He is living in his world. His universe. Fred doesn't know that there are millions of other worlds out there, each inhabited with billions of other fish just like him, as well as others that are similar to him but with subtle differences. Other species.
The point is that Fred is totally oblivious to anything that goes on outside his "pond". Yes, he has heard some very weird and fantastical stories about the goings on outside his universe. And he has also seen strange, scary things coming out of the sky and splashing into his world that make everyone dive for cover. Fred knows nothing of birds, cows, sheep, or any other thing that lives in the world beyond his world.
Now, imagine one morning Fred wakes up, gets out of bed (yes, ponds do have beds and so do seas and rivers) and gets ready for school. He goes to the corner to wait for the Bass to take him to school (ok, I am not going to get stupid. This is a serious matter to ponder.)As he hears the bus splashing up his avenue to his house, out the corner of his eye he sees light flashing off something bouncing towards him. He has never seen anything like it. It looks like a bug wearing a yellow and white skirt.
Whatever it is, all he knows that he hasn't had breakfast yet, and this bug in a skirt looks like it could hit the spot.
Without giving it a second thought, with a powerful kick of the tail, he shoots forward and clamps his jaws on the "tasty" bug in a skirt.
Suddenly, his head is jerked forward with such force that it feels as if his neck is snapping away from his body, and at the same time he feels a sharp stabbing pain in the roof of his mouth. Fred's mind goes into a frenzy and his body comes alive with a power and strength he never imagined he had. He pulls with all his might to get away from this thing that is dragging him towards the edge of his world. Fred knows he has to fight with everything he has to get rid of the thing in his mouth that is preventing him from swimming to safety. He shoots out of the water 3 or 4 times, rolling his body and shaking his head wildly, but nothing he does makes the thing stop pulling him towards the edge of his world. A few times he dives deeper into the water and he can feel the thing that is holding him starting to let go, but every time he is almost sure that he is going to get away, the thing starts pulling even harder. He is getting tired now and he can feel his muscles getting weaker. The weaker he gets, the nearer to the edge of the world the thing pulls him.
He sees a bright light getting stronger and stronger, and his body gets unbearably heavy as the thing lifts Fred out of his world, into a world he knows nothing of.
He is fighting for breath and filled with unbelievable terror as the thing that pulled him is ripped from his mouth by an indescribable, monstrous apparition.
Fred is sure his end has come as the monstrous apparition lifts him to its mouth . . .
To Fred's utter astonishment, and relief, the monstrous apparition does not swallow him whole, but instead only brushes Fred's head with his lips . . . and then gently puts Fred back into his own world.
Now ponder this . . . .
What did Fred tell his friends and family about his "adventure"? How could he possibly make them understand what happened to him?
How then can we humans, scoff at stories of alien abductions? Are we not just small fish living in our own little pond?