There are some hard concepts to wrap your head around as a child, and death is right up there. Having to explain to little humans that their existence is limited and all living things will one day cease to live isn’t the most lighthearted of conversations to get into when the family is on a fishing trip–maybe it should be.
In this video, a little boy is seen holding a dead fish. It’s not clear if he understands it’s gone, but the way the fish is flopping around without struggle in his hand as he gestures, it’s apparent to his parents and brother that the fishy friend is no longer with us.
The boy is in a back and forth argument with his dad, standing on the edge of the water, pleading with his father to keep him. “I just want to keep him,” he says. Dad rebuttals, “What are you going to do with him?” to which the little boy adorably answers that he will keep the fish on his lap in the truck, and then put the fish in the toy box when they get home. Dad is not having it and insists his son throws the fish back into the water. The little boy shakes his head defiantly.
The bittersweet exchange goes on for a while, the same questions questioned, the same answers answered.
The boy’s reaction is a little heartbreaking, but because he’s so young and new to the world, there is a layer of innocence that makes you just want to scoop him up and gently tell him the facts of life. No wonder people go fishing—nature is the greatest teacher.
