Fish Don’t Know They Are Wet

Fish don’t know they are wet.

If a fish could be sitting across the table from you, having a cup of coffee and you asked it what the word “water” means, they would look at you curiously and respond, “What the heck are you talking about man…you need some more coffee!”  Why?  Because they are surrounded by water, it is impossible for them to see.  They wouldn’t be able to see it until they were taken out of it.

We don’t know who discovered water, but we are pretty sure it wasn’t fish.  They don’t know what water even is.  Sometimes the most obvious and important realities are the hardest to see because of what surrounds us.  

Fish don’t know they are wet.

That is until they get pulled out of water.  Like all living beings, fish need oxygen to breathe.  They get that oxygen from the water.  The water enters their body through their gills, which only work while they are in the water.  When the water passes over their gills, it absorbs oxygen from the water and replaces it with carbon dioxide from the fish’s bloodstream.   When it’s out of the water, the gills would normally collapse, unable to find oxygen, and ultimately suffocating the fish.

Fish only become aware of the water when they are removed from it.  But that can be painful!

Knowledge is an awareness or familiarity gained through experience.  Wisdom, though, is the soundness of action or decision with regard to the application of experience, knowledge, and good judgment.  For the fish, knowing they are wet is one thing.  That becomes pretty obvious to them when they are out of the water!  

We have been taken out of the proverbial “water” now for the last few years.  That is a fact.  We know that to be true.  Before COVID, it was normal for many of us to go from day to day and activity to activity without giving things like our relationships and connection with others a second thought.  We were fish surrounded by “water” not knowing what it was.  

Now that we have been taken out of the “water”, the question is, “So, now what?”  

When a fish finds itself out of water, you better believe it should do more than just knowing something is wrong.  If the fish doesn’t do something quickly with that knowledge it is going to die!  It’s a fish, so it’s going to have to be resourceful and come up with a plan to get back in the water quickly, and that is going to be no easy task!

A fish out of water is living in an unpredictable environment.

As we work to get back in the “water” after the last several years of this international crisis, we have the chance to take with us one of two things – knowledge that it happened or wisdom from the experience.  The former is static.  The latter is active.  

It isn’t enough to just be aware.  We must choose to do something with that awareness.  We can choose to be afraid, paralyzed by fear of the unknown or we can decide to take focused, intentional brave action.

Being brave is not the absence of fear.  It is taking courageous action despite that fear and finding a way through it. 

Fish don’t know they are wet.  Thank goodness we are not fish!

We will talk about that more next week.  

See you next week!