When this country really started ramping up and our transcontinental railway system blossomed, new avenues of commerce appeared, and one in particular was the transportation of live fish. Now restaurants could get huge watertight railway cars to bring fish wherever they needed it, without needing to cure it, dry it, or freeze it: fresh fish would be most desirable, AND most profitable.
So they started trying to do so: they filled these tanks with water and stuffed them full of trout, salmon, catfish, whatever they thought they could transport within such a limited space. Around the country, trains hauled massive catches from coast to coast, ready to bestow their bounty on new shores, or even in the interior, where transportation had always been a burden.
...And nearly all the fish died. Massive railway cars were opened upon arrival and nearly incapacitated the workers with the smell. Fish died in droves, scores, leaving thousands if not millions of dollars wasted in time, effort, and storage. The people in charge of transportation and the people invested in the fishing industry were tearing their hair out: this seemingly brilliant plan was costing them a fortune. Captivity was not something that had truly been tried yet: zoos would not even exist for many years to come.
Like all great capitalists, they threw money at the problem: they made the tanks bigger; they made the number of fish crammed into the space smaller; they put all sorts of things in the water; they tried everything they could possibly imagine, but it was no use... the fish died, for no apparent reason.
Finally, as all great capitalists do when the environment eventually forces them to examine what they are doing, they consulted someone who probably should have been onboard since the beginning: a marine biologist. Admittedly, such a person was a bit of an oddity, especially in a country just getting its legs into the 20th Century. This man was brought in and told the whole sorry story; he was shown the watertight tanks and given exhaustive data about the mating habits of fish and their needs (much of which he, himself, had written). He listened and read intently, never saying a word, just nodding periodically in a way that infuriated both the laborers and the people who paid them to labor. Finally, after his thorough debriefing and several days thought, he called a meeting with the men who had reached out to him. They sat in a small room, expecting him to tell them it was a disease, a plot to poison Americans, something, ANYTHING that would explain why they simply couldn't get massive numbers of fish with plenty of space and breeding opportunities to survive.
He said, very calmly: "Put a shark in the tank."
...The men in charge were very quiet for a while. Eventually one of them, beet-red, called him a nasty name and wanted to throw him out, but the others, desperate, calmed him down some. They then demanded why someone with his level of expertise would suggest something as incredibly stupid as putting a large predator into a vast food source that was their entire supply.
The man replied: "They have no resistance. Without resistance, animals have no reason to advance, to fight, even to live. Without someone to attack us, we would never grow strong enough to defend. It is the same with all organisms."
Stunned, the men assaulted him with questions, and he returned with answers:
"Won't the shark eat all the fish!?" "No. A shark eats when it needs to eat, and then no more. It also will eat less if its supply is abundant."
"Won't it stress the fish, make them taste badly?" "On the contrary, they expect it; their instincts will be engaged, and therefore they will thrive rather than give up."
"Won't the shark grow too large for the tank?" "A goldfish grows only as large as the space into which it is put; a shark will do the same. It is pure survival."
"What about fish that don't live in the same kind of water as sharks?" "Anything above them on the food chain will do. It is, quite simply, the resistance that is the key."
Now, these men were concerned, but could see no recourse; they had no better counsel to consider. So, experimentally, they filled one tank with water, put in the salmon... and then added a shark. The workers thought they were crazy; admittedly, the men felt a little the same way. The train took off from the East Coast and finally came to rest in the West. When the tank was opened, people crossed their fingers and peered within.
...The fish lived.
Just as the man had predicted, the animals had survived the long journey, and their bodies were even more succulent than anticipated: the drive to escape the shark, the constant pressure of survival, day after day, had invigorated them. Insofar as a fish can have a sense of purpose, theirs had been restored: they had a reason to live.
Now, obviously, people are more advanced than fish. Usually. But the key here is that animal behavior is important to us because it shows our deepest motivations, the reasons we do things, controlled by that part of the brain that is working even when the top of it has gone to sleep. For decades, people have lamented how rarely animals breed in captivity; unfortunately, given how dangerous it is in the world for many of them, their choices are few. But the lesson here is that resistance is the key.
Resistance is the reason you get up in the morning.
Resistance is the reason you try to achieve your goals.
Resistance is the reason you play sports, exercise, educate yourself, have children, fight for something, take a stand against anything.
It is the thing that makes you want to live.
Resistance is the most fundamental aspect of survival, because just about everything in the universe is continually trying to kill us, from black holes to bacteria to that guy eyeing your promotion to that crocodile living in the pond near your house. Resistance comes in many forms, and there are always perils involved. Some fish will die, but without something to fight against you never prevail: without resistance, no one will ever make the world better.
The next time you feel defeated, cheated, abused, misused, ignored, frustrated, hurt, shaken, trampled upon, or just plain fed up...
Remember that Michelangelo took four years to finish the Sistine Chapel, the way he wanted it, no matter what.
Remember that Stephen Hawking, in addition to his other fantastic achievements, has lived longer than anyone ever imagined possible, thwarting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis even now.
Remember that George Washington, commanding farmers, backwoodsmen, young boys and old men, was able to bring forth a new country despite impossible odds and an enemy which at that time was the strongest on Earth, becoming leader of the first nation in modern history to win its freedom from its mother country through direct conflict.
...And remember that, without the shark, the fish would not fight so hard to stay alive.
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