Fish In A Basket:

 

As far as religion goes, one-or-the-other is not the only option that a person has.  All-and-none is also an option.  Being an atheist doesn’t prevent one from getting inspiration from any of the world’s religions.  Even a person who does not believe in the existence of deities can still have an ethical sense and find beauty in examples of behavior. 

 

Many years ago, someone once gave me an interpretation of an event described in the Bible, an event in which a few fish placed in a basket by Jesus fed a multitude.  Many people take this as a miracle, a case of divine intervention, and bow down before the magic of it.  The alternative explanation is perhaps no less wonderful, although it does not rely on anything supernatural to explain it.   

 

When people go to any big event, they tend to think ahead. If there are not going to be food vendors there, people come prepared with food, even if it is just a candy bar stashed away in a pocket for emergencies.  In those days people brought, among other things, fish. 

 

If you ever watch animals eat, they quite often drag their food away from others to avoid having it snatched away.  It looks like greedy behavior sometimes, but as far as survival goes, it works. Like other animals, people have to struggle for their food, and they tend to not let go of it without a struggle.  They tend to think egoistically, as individuals, instead of collectively as a family. 

 

With the inertia of physical objects, it takes a first push to get the ball rolling.  Additional pushes just give it momentum.  Putting the first fish in the basket takes a leap of faith.  You never know if you will have anything to eat when the basket gets back to you.  On that day, I’m sure that Jesus ate quite well. 

 

In the story, be it true or not, Jesus took the initiative, showing how to be generous.  He put the first fish in the basket.  When the basket came by the people, they could put in, take out, or just pass the basket on untouched.  People had food with them and they knew they weren’t going to starve.  They might not have had the courage to make the first move, but they had the good sense to follow the example of their leader.  By giving part of what they had, they felt good about themselves, and gained a sense of family with the others. That in itself is a bit of a miracle for people who feel alone.

 

Probably, most of the people would not have gone hungry that day, even without the “miraculous” basket of fish.  Life was improved because they shared.  That is all.