During my cancer journey I have learn quite a few things
about adapting a healthy diet. As a potential survivor of this horrific
diagnosis, it is important for me to attach myself to things that will be conducive
to a clean lifestyle. These things should help me continue to be strong and
strive for a positive outcome. I would postulate that sometimes it takes a life
challenging experience to make a person reevaluate many social positions and
attitudes that they once held as being true. Many times, these are the
positions and attitudes that have put us in our present unhealthy circumstance.
Today as I unsuccessfully attempted to get my point across to a single minded “individual”,
I was struck with a life altering epiphany. It happened while I was driving;
this is when a ghostly figure (not really), appeared to me and whispered these
words “Catfish will kill you if you consume its flesh”.
I
immediately pulled over, (not really) in the middle of the interstate, stepped
out of my car and raised my hands to the skies and shouted “I don’t eat catfish;
I only eat farm raised tilapia”. The voice interrupted my protest with “No sir,
you are one of the greatest consumers of catfish, for without your impression
and influence on the catfish market, many fish farmers would be put out of
business". This was a shock to me because for years, I had taken pride in the fact that I
only ate the freshest and purest fish in the sea. After the police arrived and
asked me to return to my vehicle, (again, not really) I realized that the voice
was right. I was a catfish consumer because throughout my existence I have placed self
centered bottom feeders in my life and pretended that they were tilapia. Then, I expected these people to change and today’s conversation was just a continuation
of the past.
So what
is a catfish? A catfish is “a person who assumes a false identity… as to
deceive, manipulate or swindle” (Dictionary.com, 2014) . These are the water
bound creatures that are in my life. The voice that spoke to me today, after
the heated conversation I had with a “friend”, was warning me “that I should be
looking out for my own interest, because at the end of the day everyone else
does”. Then I was reminded in chronicle order of all the instances in which I
have assisted people in their dreams and goals and have walked away from the
table empty. I can only recall a handfull of times that a “friend” has called me
and said “Hey David, thanks for all of the FREE work you have done for me, I
know I owe you, so let’s look into a way in which I can repay you”. These words
have seldom been uttered; instead most will only call to request more FREE services. I
am sad to say that many if not all of these people are Christians. When God asked
his disciples to follow him and he would “make [them]… fishers of men,” (Matthey
4:19) I never imagined he was asking his followers to pick the pockets of
people when they were in the most vulnerable state in their lives (i.e. lying on the floor after chemotherapy).
BON APPETIT
Dictionary.com. (2014). Catfish. Retrieved from
Dictionary.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/catfish
King, J. (n.d.). The Holy Bible.
