The Shark and the Goldfish: Positive Ways to Thrive During Waves of Change

A Wave of Change

Gordy the goldfish lived a wonderful and simple life. He ate, slept, swam, and did twirls in the water any time his humans approached to feed him. He never wanted for anything, especially food. Food was abundant and he was prosperous. Life was good.

Then one day he was swept up in a net, put in a bag full of water, and carried to the beach by his boy. The boy wanted to play with his goldfish at the beach. So he dug a big hole in the sand, filled it with buckets of water, and placed his goldfish in his own private man-made lake. Laughter filled the air and everyone was happy.

That is, until a big wave came crashing onshore, flooding the boy’s lake and taking the goldfish back into the ocean with it. The boy and his family ran into the water looking for their goldfish, but he was nowhere to be found.

Gordy cried for help but no one could hear him. And as he swam aimlessly in the ocean, tired, alone, and hungry, he wondered, “Who’s going to feed me now?”

He was no longer safe and secure, and without food he would surely die. He decided to ask the other fish in the ocean if they would feed him, but they all laughed at him. “Silly goldfish,” they said, “always waiting for someone to feed him.”

Then just as Gordy was near collapse from the salt water and starvation, ...