keyword "bequeath" title "go fish" in misc. flash fiction

Give a man a fish and yes, he will eat for a day. Set a greedy man loose with a boat and a net and no Coast Guard to stop him, he will eventually get rich but along the way, the fish will invariably go extinct. Maybe all in all, it’s a better idea to do the decent thing and just give a man a fish.

Give a man a fish and sure, he will eat for a day. Send a man to fishing college that he might be taught to fish and he will end up hounded for those half-paid student loans all the rest of his life.
Maybe it’s better for everyone involved, excepting for the banks that would compound interest on the loans, if you would just bequeath unto him a fish.

Give a man a fish and of course, he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eventually get pretentious and start talking about sous-vide this and molecular gastronomy that and before you know it, he’ll be serving up organic fish with sriracha quinoa bacon and kale, at forty bucks a pop. If you don’t want another show on the Food Network talking down to you for not owning Himalayan sea-salt, it’s best to just give a fish.

Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day. Thoroughly instruct a man how to fish and it will invariably become the core of his identity to the detriment of everything else. He’ll get a hat with a clock in it above the brim that says “Time to Fish” on it and no one wants that. He will get an account on Tumblr and rant about how he’s not really a man, how he’s spiritually a “fish-kin”, Lord knows, we don’t need that. Maybe just give a fish instead.

Give a man a fish and I agree he will eat for a day but give a man a fish every day and he will eat every day, I am reasonably sure. Discard the Protestant Work Ethic lies our culture’s myths were based on where it is believed that things like health and dignity must be earned, must be bled and sweated out making someone else rich to be deserved. We are all human and have right to those things health no matter what we do or don’t do, please for the love of God, just give fish.

Give a man a fish because he deserves to eat. Give a man a fish because it’s right, give a man a fish because it’s decent, mostly give a man a fish because it’s kind. Heady notions of hard work and the value of the dollar and all that are just that, they’re notions. Notions worth consideration but just notions. He however is a man and he’s hungry. Feed him. The rest is to be worried about down the road. Give a man a fish and let him eat because you are kind.