A Little Fishy

THEY BOTH START WITH  “E”

E    M    P    A    T    H    Y

E    N    A    B    A     L    I    N    G

Psssssst:  They are nothing alike!

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime

I’ve never much followed that saying too much–labeling me severely guilty as an Enabler.           .           .

in fact, unless you’re a labeled Enabler you most likely have never heard of anyone ever disagreeing with the

T E A C H      A      M A N      T O      F I S H 

sentiment;

I don’t believe it–

which mainly accuses me of being something way worse than an Enabler:

A Self-Rationalizing Enabler

Seriously, I’ve always thought when a person was starving, it just wasn’t the right time to give them a

“here’s-how-you-fish-lesson”

I like treating someone to fish DINNERS

long before I get around to even think about taking them to

“here’s-how-you-do-IT-Institute.          .          .

Most forsake the

E   m   p   a   t   h   y 

step so they’ll never be judged for being the Enabler;

Most of the time when we see a

S    t    r    u    g    g    l    e    r, 

we give them the priceless gift of our wisdom:

Let me tell your what I’d do if I was a give-me-a-fish-every-day-instead-of-teaching-me-to-fish-kind-of-guy-like-you.       .       .

and then go into our Charlie Brown Teacher voice:

“Wha-wha-wha-whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. . . .”

L E A D    W I T H    E M P A T H Y

Is it possible that maybe,

perhaps,

perchance,

potentially,

mayhap this

e     a     t     e     r           o     f           f     i     s     h 

is peradventurely having the worst day of their life.          .          .          ?

If you,

out of the pure goodness of your heart,

pre-registered them to the finest

Learn      How      To      Fish      University, 

and they have this tragic learning disability

because of the mayhem in their life.            .            .

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.                .                .

do you think that would be the best

 l e a r n i n g      e n v i r o n m e  n t ?

Do you think they would be open and receptive to being educated in the fine skill of angling?

People–especially hurting people–

are more receptive to acts of kindness 

than spoken instructional words.

Take it from a life-long giver of fishes,

a most competent Enabler

who gives

Kindness,

Empathy,

Sympathy,

Sharing,

Love,

Acts of Generosity,

Acts of Kindness,

Caring,

Compassion

and Giving

despicably bad names.           .           .

Besides.      .      .

I      don’t      own      any      poles,    

tackle boxes

lures

hooks

bobbers

or  bait

 a           n           y           w           a           y.         .         .