Truisms

Milo informed Mark this evening on the way home from school something completely out of the blue but that has the ring of truth to it.

Milo: Dad...
Mark: Yeah Milo?
Milo: Dad, Fish don't have it so good.
Mark: (stifling a laugh) Why do you say that?
Milo: Well because they are eaten by people, and that isn't so good, you know?

Mark told me this story during dinner. Or rather he asked Milo to tell me why fish have it so rough....

Mark: Milo told me a very interesting thing today on the way home from school.
Milo: Oh yeah?
Me: What did he tell you?
Mark: Well he said, "Dad, fish don't have it so good!"
Me: (biting my cheek so as not to laugh out loud) Milo, so why do fish not have it so good?
Milo: Because they have to eat raw fish Mom. They just eat fish and other fish and none of them are cooked.
Me: I see
Mark: (in whispered tones to me) That isn't what he said earlier, but that works too.

I so very much want to read some symbolism into this story. Mark and I certainly laughed after Milo went to bed puzzling over why he was pro-fish but now has decided they are unfortunate with their lot in life. I most assuredly see the humor in it as well however I wanted to find some kernel of philosophical truth in there that points to the genius in the simplicity of a child's mind. I wanted to pull some giant truism out of this, because wouldn't that be a great blog post?

The more I chewed on this story, rather than being profound I just found it endearing. Milo was randomly thinking of the fish condition and determined that they have it rough because either they are being eaten OR they don't get to eat cookies, PB&J sandwiches, spaghetti & meatballs or tacos with crunchy shells. In Milo's world raw fish is pretty horrific as far as food choices go. (Milo is not aware of the glory of sashimi or sushi at this time, so I won't bring that into this) So of course he would determine they have a rough go of this life.

Now, why was my adorable nearly 6 year old mulling over the life/food choices of the ocean fish on the way home from school? Perhaps we shall never really know. But when I told him we were having grilled cheese sandwiches and soup for dinner, he was pretty pumped about that. I suppose the alternative of being a fish and what he could be having for dinner puts human dinner decisions into perspective, doesn't it?