A Fable with no ending..

There once was a pond.

A pond full of fish. Lots of them. With a strict hierarchy, where the big fish ate the small fish, who ate the smaller fish, who devoured the smallest fish. Promotions from smallest fish to smaller fish to small fish happened through how much time one had spent in the pond. In all this fish-eat-fish business, the fish were so busy eating other fish, that they hardly remembered what it was like when they were the smallest fish in the pond. Those who survived, did so by doing whatever it is that the bigger fish wanted them to do.. You couldn't blame them, since the alternative was to be eaten. The only way to get out of this pond alive, was if you were lucky enough to caught in a net, that would transport you into the wonderful world of fish tanks. The lucky few, who escaped to the fish-tanks, never returned.

That was the life, where every most fish lived and died in the same pond. And died even when living.

Over the years, the area started suffering a tremendous drought which caused heavy water shortages. Our pond also suffered much. So the authorities did the only thing they could do. They built a canal system between the various ponds of the area, so that every pond would have sufficient water. Slowly, but steadily, the water problem receded. And it provided the smaller fish a chance to travel upstream and downstream to different ponds. You grew by picking up whatever came up your way.

That's where things stand today. Smaller fish have a choice. You stay in a pond as long as you like it, else move on to a new pond. Stay there, or keep moving. Those who stayed in the pond, were there of their own choice.

This has led to an interesting little generational gap.

The big fish today, had grown big through their old method of staying in the same place, and devouring smaller fish. They were too busy surviving the drought to bother with moving out. They had always known just one way to grow – Stay in the pond.

The next level had grown by travelling far and wide and learning from their experiences. They knew what life was prior to the drought, and they didn't really want to go back to those days. They'd prefer growing by what they had learnt.

Those at the lowest level, really don't bother much, since they know that they don't have to spend the rest of their lives in this pond, if they aren't liking it. They never knew what life was before the drought.  

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I wish I knew how this story ends.