A fish story, for Daw Aung San Suu

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Subject: A fish story, for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Anniversary Tribute

Dedicated to Daw Aung Suu Kyi, on the anniversary of her birth, June 19 
1996
Special thanks to Ken and Visakha Kawasaki
Dawn Star, Paris 

The Foutaine Medici of the Luxembourg Gardens where the fish and the 
Senators meet

'Tha-du' ,'Tha-du' ,'Tha-du' . As the fish slipped into the wide ocean 
space of its newly found freedom, a suddent transformation gripped the 
world under our feet as we watched the water from the transparent plastic 
sack pour into the great pond  and roared peacefully through the nature. 
 

The Fountaine Medici  is sheltered in a quiet protected cover of ancient 
trees graced by two lovers in passionate embrace sculpted in polished 
Italian marble, under the watchful eyes of Poseiden, the sea God. It is 
situated exactly east of the stately Luxembourg Palace where every French 
politician representing all the political parties of democatic France 
join in debate in the magnificent Senate.

The fish plunged with great force through the cascading torrent downward. 

" Quick, I said to the young boy,  " What shall we name the fish? "

" Fish don't have names . They're just fish ", " said the boy taller than 
nature in his K2 roller blades and worn Chicago Bulls basketball cap.

" How do you know ", I persisted. " If you were a fish, wouldn't you want 
a name, too? "

The boy was noticiably checked.

" I name this fish " Suu Kyi " in the name of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and on 
the anniverary of her 52nd year ".

And in the same instant as the boy uttered " Suu Kyi ", his tender regard 
traced the fish swim through the air in leaving behind a tail of water, 
then, disappear, everthing engulfed in an explosion of particles.

" Do you think it'll live?, " asked the boy.

" Live?  ", I answered. " Prosper and grow with elegance in time. Why, 
you see, there! There she is! "

And indeed, the brillant reddish orange  body of the gold fish now 
glimmered in the light of nature,  virtually swimming in it.

Suddenly the water became as clear as the thoughts that compelled our 
minds to behold the forest that reached below and above with sprawling 
arms and limbs of solid branch and leaf. The world was no longer the same 
as it was, neither for the strong small gold fish, that had been 
carefully chosen among many of its species from a shop along the Seine 
near Chatelet in Paris, where only a day before it was crowded in 
currents not of its own, but tossed by a  teeming crowd of fellow gold 
fish of various colors and sizes. Neither for us, too.

" Ah, there is a happy fish, " said the boy. " Look at it swim , its 
playing. I think its playing. " 

He remained silent, looking down at the gold fish that sprinted through 
the strange new world.

" Well, its not the ocean, but at least I should think it will survive 
here, unless of course it is eaten by another fish or a rat, or a duck. 
You know Paris - -the world, in fact,  is full of rats. "

" Don't say that, " the boy smarted. "Suu Kyi won't get eaten by rats. "

" Of course not, I was only testing its strength. You see, now, how it is 
still, almost motionless, reflecting only its own calm. "

And indeed, the fish was looking all around, in the immense fountain.

" We will see. 'Demain', tomorrow, I will come back and see our little 
friend. Let the fish now talk to the Senate. Perhaps the Parliament will 
have some new ideas about supporting Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, in Burma. I 
should think they ought to send her their best wishes.  What do you 
think? "

" That's a fine idea, " said the boy. "Did the fish tell you that, just 
now? "

" 'Qui sait'?, Peut-être".  I smiled and trned away.

" Salute! ",  shouted the boy as he passed the tall black iron gates, 
turning in front of the Senate entry to the Luxembourg Palace, and skated 
past the sentries keeping guard with their polished black machine guns.

The next day, at nine in the evening, just before sunset, I thought it 
was time to leave the stories and work of the day, to go and " Suu Kyi ", 
and to see what heavenly thoughts might endow the evening. The park was 
still open, most of the people having gone home or to restaurants to 
dine. The Fontaine Medici was dark, the water nearly impossible to 
penetrate. A rich blue ceiling  painted a thick coat of the descending 
night over the surface.  

Yet, through the haze of colour and nature, several fish -brillantly 
gold, red , orange and white,-hovered through the water space.  Among the 
fish was the small " Suu Kyi ", decidely protected in an environment no 
less savage than it was strange. Four small ducklings, not more a day in 
the water, dashed along while below the waterline the gold fish, 
regrouped and then separated again. But " Suu Kyi " was never far from 
one of the others, seemingly content in the pond of the Fountaine Medici.

"It was good of you to free the fish, " said the boy that night.  

" Do you really think so, " I asked. " Yesterday you thought I was crazy. 
"

" No I didn't. It's good, " asserted the boy. " And the fish is stronger 
and happy now. " 

" And you, how are you. Do you feel good, too? "

" Yes, I feel good, 'je me sens bien' " said the boy. 

" At  first we thouht that the fish might be lost in the big pond full of 
uncertain dangers, in a hostile unknown enviroment. But you see, to be 
trapped with the other fish, in a protected secure environment, will 
never result in a full or happy life. Even one day of freedom is worth a 
thousand days of prison. Even if the fish were to die and pass on, 
yesterday, it would have known something of the great life beyond here in 
this world.
And look what greatness it has given you in your shared happiness. It is 
the ?Gift of Life?. "

" You see, its a Buddhist tradition, for the anniversary of Daw Aung San 
Suu Kyi.  In Japanese it is called Hojoe.  In Pali, the ancient Buddhist 
language, Jivita Dana, or the Gift of Life.  To free animals or to give 
medicine are forms of Jivitadana, that is the ancient Buddhist tradition. 
"

" 'Tha-du' ,'Tha-du' ,'Tha-du', " repeated the boy.

That night a  perfect gold-red pastel skyline brightened the horizon over 
Paris and Fountaine Medici...