perspective

pen and ink in the pocket Moleskine

This week's topic at Illustration Friday is "perspective", and so I chose this fish cartoon.

I took Chaco to the Dr.'s for his checkup this week and had an enjoyable 15 minutes or so with the ubiquitous Dr.'s office aquarium. Having owned various aquariums in my lifetime, I've always found them fun to get lost in for a while.

A good friend of mine and I had similar fish in similar aquariums at one time. She, like me, was a retired "science type" who'd become a stay-at-home-mom. The aquarium gave her an outlet for her geekiness - she would check the water attributes often and exclaim, "I get to do CHEMISTRY!"

I remember that some of my fish had babies, so I gave a couple to her before they were eaten by their parents. She was hoping to breed some too, but alas, turns out the ones I gave her were all female to go with her already all female tank.

But WAIT! Shortly after reaching adulthood, it's as if all of these girls looked at one another and said, "We need a man in here. Any volunteers?" One of them boldly stepped forward and, sure enough, sprouted the necessary parts. My geek friend and I were in awe of their resourcefulness.

Yes, some fish can do this. We were so in awe, we geekily researched. Where there's a will there's a way.

So as I watched and doodled these fish at the Dr.'s office, I wondered about their thoughts. Were they wondering about their next feeding time? Where were the bubbles coming from? Whether to be male or female? Were the rumors of life outside the tank true?

Looking at things from another's perspective can help us treat these others differently, treat them better. Like, maybe a Killer Whale doesn't want a career in the theater.
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