Hanoi and the life of the Goldfish

I can’t believe that goldfish can survive in there. I am sitting on the edge of one of the many “lakes” in Hanoi, amazed that any living organism can survive in those conditions, let alone gold fish. I mean, among the rubbish and cracked china and bowls and deck of cards that are scattered in and across the top of the water, among all that there are so many fish! But they were not acting normal. Something was different. I noticed one fish, perched still at the top of the water looking up at the sky and sucking in gulps of air, gulp, gulp GULP…as if oxygen was going out of fashion tomorrow.

Then as my eyes panned across the water I saw so many fish doing the same thing, obviously the polluted water blocking any oxygen that the fish had to survive on. Small little baby fish being taught by their parents how to scavenge through the green slime and rubbish to get their food, others chasing each other around the shattered bamboo chair lying half submerged in the water. From the moment these fish hatched out of their eggs until now this lake is all that these fish have known. The slime, the pollution, the broken plates and soggy cigarette butts, this is their world. But I am sure they are happy there, because some of them look happy. Others look like they are about to die and give up hope, but because it is all they have known, they seem to accept it the way it is. If only they knew that their “world” is a stinky, stagnating pond in the middle of a polluted city. Imagine what a difference it would make to that fish to, just for one day, get taken out of that pond and driven out into a remote, untouched beautiful place where the water is pure and clean and clear and full of plants and other fish and shiny stones and flowing water! What would it feel? Maybe it would think thoughts like “All those years I spent in that disgusting polluted pond not knowing what possibilities were out there, not even caring or wanting to know the truth, but happy just going through the motions of generation to generation, surviving, but only just. If only the other fish knew that a reality such as this existed…how different things would be!”

As I’m sitting here by the pond thinking these things, its hard for me not to draw conclusions regarding us humans living in this world. Every day seems to more and more pollution, earthquakes, famines, war, betrayal, murder, pain, sadness, depression and hopelessness. And its funny how even despite all that, we can walk around living our lives as if this is the way things were meant to be. Some of us seem to deal fine with it all, doing our day to day routines with no issues. Others sit at the top of the water gasping for air just to survive each day, often with no one there to help them. But if we could only see that this is not what we were designed for. This kind of life is not all that there is. Outside of this world is a loving God who is waiting for the right time to put an end to all of this misery and craziness and to set things right and put us in our real home. A place where there is no pain. A place where we don’t have to worry for the safety of our children, or watch tsunamis come and wipe out entire cities. A place where people don’t hurt each other because of misunderstandings or jealousy. A place where we can breathe in the deep, clean and fresh waters of freedom and love and never have to fear anything ever again. All it takes to get there is a desire to know the One who will take you there Himself. But only if you let Him.

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