We someone does wrong, whether it is you or me, whether it is mother or father, whether it is the Gold Coast man or the white man, it is like a fisherman casting a net into the water. He keeps only the one or two fish that he needs to feed himself and puts the rest in the water, thinking that their lives will go back to normal. No one forgets that they were once captive, even if they are now free.Yaa Gyasi
About This Quote
The story is about a man who had a goldfish he was keeping as a pet. The man was not very good at keeping his fish, and the fish died. The man, or the "fisherman", as he is also called in the story, was very upset. He said that now there were only two fish left, and one of those would die soon as well.
He feared that it would kill him too. The third fish, however, did not seem to mind at all. It saw no difference between the two of them.
It seemed to be perfectly happy being captive and not being able to go outside and swim around in the water. When the fisherman asked the third fish whether it really felt no difference, or whether it thought that dying would be better than being held captive by this man, the third fish replied that dying was better than being held captive by this man. In other words, dying was preferable to being held captive by this fisherman. The fisherman thought about what the third fish said for a while, and then decided that he did not want to hold onto either of his remaining goldfish.
He let them both die because he did not want to be held captive by either of them anymore. By doing so, he saved his own life from being held captive by these two goldfish who could have both killed him if they could have killed each other without him noticing or helping at all. Note: This is an allegory for human beings who are held captive by racial hatred to the death of their fellow humans due to racial hatred. If one can get out of being held captive by racial hatred, one will live a long healthy life if one avoids doing wrong to others or harming others in any way, even if it is done unknowingly or accidentally.
Source: Homegoing
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