It seemed like such a good idea.  On my daughter’s 9th birthday, we bought her a fish tank and five goldfish.  I think I still remember all their names:  Whiteout, Stripey, Pipsqueak, Goldie and Fred. Who knew what a nightmarish lesson in the cold, hard, rotten, realities of life it would become for my daughter.  Within a couple of days the fish were covered with white spots, ick, no I mean literally Ick – that’s what the disease is called.  One by one the fish succumbed to the awful, merciless disease.  No matter what medicine or measure I took they all died.

So we tried again with a new batch of fish and had no better luck.  My parents had always had a huge fish tank filled with goldfish when I was a kid, and I wasn’t sure, but I was pretty certain that the fish swam a lot; they didn’t sit on the bottom of the tank gasping for oxygen.  As much as I tried to convince myself that the fish were just really tired, I knew that wasn’t so.  So it was back to the pet store.  More medicine.  One by one the fish began to die, until there was only one, Fred.  By now, it had become personal with me.  I was emotionally involved with these fish, and I had even resorted to praying for them.  Praying for a fish?  My daughter had become quite apathetic at this point.  Sure, she cried and was distraught after the first half dozen fish croaked, but she learned to cope well.  I on the other hand, was a basket case.

I stayed awake past midnight watching Fred, praying to God that He would spare this one little fish – just one little innocent life on the planet from death.  Fred tried with all his might.  In one last defiant action against death’s grip, he swam to the top of the tank, and then slowly glided back down in defeat.  I was devastated.  I unplugged the fish tank’s filter,   scooped out Fred and sent him on on his long journey to the sea by way of municipal plumbing.  I turned off the fish tank’s light and that was that.  The quiet and dark said it all.  I stayed awake the rest of that night, thinking about the cruelties of life.  How could I not be able to save one silly fish out of 10? But what struck me, was the will of that little fish to cling to life – how much he wanted to live!

I’ve always wondered what led men to believe that only humans have souls.  We’re made in the image of God, but does that mean all the other living creatures are just unfeeling, uncaring structures of meat, bones and tendons,  incapable of love?  It wasn’t until I looked into the eyes of an elephant, at the Macon County Fairgrounds a few years ago, that I allowed myself to believe that animals do indeed have souls – whatever a soul is.  My daughter was getting ready to ride the elephant, and I had my digital camera ready to take a few shots.  I looked up and noticed the elephant was looking in my eyes – not just looking my direction, or my way, but looking in my eyes with a sorrowful, knowing, intelligent stare.   There was a soul behind those eyes and I instantly knew it.  I don’t know why it unsettled me so.  Maybe because I knew, if I gave the wrong look back, that intelligent animal could stomp me to death without much effort; but I think it was more because  I realized that it had connected with me on a spiritual level.  Animals aren’t supposed to have souls.

I like the explanation a Jewish scholar once gave a reader who asked if dogs have souls.  He answered back with a Jewish belief that all of God’s creation has a “divine spark” inside of it.  From the rocks, to the trees, to the fishes, to the birds in the sky, and in us;   we all began with that same divine spark and we still carry it inside us.   Isn’t it wonderful to not be the only creation with a divine spark?  Why on Earth would we want to be alone in that category anyway?  What a disappointment heaven would be without Fred.

The Year: 2013

- Decatur’s unemployment rate is now 65%.

- A large agriculture industrial plant has just purchased Lake Decatur, and is now rationing water supplies to those residents bringing empty milk cartons, to the area once known as Nelson Park on every third Tuesday of each month.

- Decatur now has one pubic school for all students K-12 located in the basement of the former Regions Bank building.

- The Decatur City Council is still studying police space needs, and is now considering the area beneath the highway 51 overpass near downtown Decatur.

- Leaf burning is again legal for home heating purposes.

-  A local hospital has opened its 125th quick care clinic in the Brettwood Kroger Deli section – just ask for the nurse at the cold cut meat counter.

- Forsyth has hired a contractor to move the entire village (homes, restaurants, mall), to be a suburb of another city that still has jobs.