Pet Fish, What’s It Worth?

I went to the Chew Thean Yang pet shop today with my parents. We needed a new water filter for our little aquarium at home.

CTY is this place where one can get a complete set of everything that one may need to start off the hobby of rearing fishies. From the aquarium tank to the fish food to the medicine for treating any fish infections or illnesses, one can get it all here.
CTY is probably my Mom’s one stop solution centre for our fishies at home. =)

While I was choosing some new fishies to be added to our aquarium, I saw one goldfish floating capsized and the other goldfish were biting on it, eating it. Looking at it makes my heart sore and I could look no more.
Suddenly, these thoughts slipped into my mind.

Are these little fishes safer in my home aquarium?
Are they actually luckier to have been chosen by me?
Do they feel lucky?

Their little lives are so fragile. And I was suddenly reminded of the books I read back in my childhood about children crying and mourning over the death of their goldfish.
I had a couple of goldfish of mine dead since our little home aquarium is set up. I do feel a slump in my heart everytime I see them passing on. But, how long the pain actually lasts?
The next moment you would see us planning to buy another one to replace the one lost.
All I thought of is that, the goldfish is in a better place now. [Corny? I know.]

However, there’s this one goldfish we used to have which left the deepest impression in me.
This little goldfish got caught in between the suction of our tank filter by accident one day and then things got really sad.
It lost an eye, and it sorta had brain damage. It could not swim properly anymore. It practically could only float, upside down.
It could no longer linger around with the other fish and was all alone. Floating directionless, like a lost boat in an ocean.
Everytime we would have to isolate it for feeding where we are required to hold it in our hand and practically force the food pellets into its mouth.
It is so sad seeing it then, because it takes a pretty long and hard time to swallow the pellets.
The saddest part had to be the fact that there is no way to cure it or to make it better. All mainly because it was only a fish. *sigh*

I sometimes wondered, what would I have done if I were the little goldfish? Would I actually be as strong?

Sorry to say, there are times that I have prayed that God will just take it away. But I was never courageous enough to send it away.

And then one day, this strong little goldfish is gone. I was actually relieved. Happy, as a matter of fact.
I guess I’m glad that it’s sufferings are finally over. It was a pretty strong one though, to have survived all these while. It had definitely fought well.
And then another thought came to my mind.

Was it worthy?