It’s okay to advocate against your self interest, but others won’t appreciate when you advocate against theirs.
NEMO AND GILL SWAM CAREFREE in the waters off the Great Barrier Reef after escaping the fish tank in the dentist’s office. Both scarred and wiser by their experiences, they swam close to the surface to absorb the rays from the summer Australian sun. Gill watched a sweet female Moorish idol swim past.
He gave her the fish eye, but she turned her nose up at him. Obviously one of those females who’d never ended up trapped in a fish tank and held those once trapped in captivity in contempt. Not to mention the scars from where Gill landed on the dentist’s drill.
“Give it up,” Nemo advised. “There’s plenty of fish to mate with in the sea.”
Gill groaned. “But I don’t want to mate with any of the females willing to settle for me.”
Gill gave the Moorish idol the fish eye, but she turned her nose up at him. Obviously one of those females who’d never ended up trapped in a fish tank and held those once trapped in captivity in contempt.
In the distance, a shadow crossed the coral, which was dying from global warming and human stupidity. Nemo brushed Gill with his fin. “Shark alert.”
The two scurried to a small gap in the coral where they could hide until the threat of becoming lunch meat passed. Within minutes, a thresher passed their hiding place, its blue fin skimming the water’s surface. Nemo and Gill backed into the cramped space.
Once the shark passed, they waited for half an hour and Nemo finally poked his head into the open to check for danger. All clear. The thresher had found other fish to fry. They squeezed through the opening and into the ocean. A school of bream swam past about twenty meters away.
Gill continued to glance from side to side. “I hope I never see a thresher again.”
Gill and Nemo scurried to a small gap in the coral where they could hide until the threat of becoming lunch meat passed. Within minutes, a thresher passed their hiding place, its blue fin skimming the water’s surface.
Nemo flicked his tail and spurted ahead. He turned to face his friend. “You got to admit, though, sharks are important to the ecosystem. They control abundance, distribution, and diversity, which are necessary to healthy oceans. They remove the sick and dying fish so they don’t infect the rest of us. And they target species that are most abundant, so they no longer monopolize our food supply. That gives the rest of our species a chance to flourish.”
Gill stopped and floated in place. “You read that on Wikipedia?”
Nemo blushed. As much as a fish can blush. “Nonsense. I can’t read, and computers don’t work in salt water.”
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