Salmon

On Wednesday, I was watching a Nature program on PBS. I love PBS stuff nowadays....PBS seems so substanial compared to the other crap on TV. Anyway, the show was about someplace in Alaska where the Salmon go upstream to spawn. I caught the show somewhere in the middle and watched, fascinated, as the salmon wiggled and splashed their way through shallow riverbeds. It didn't matter that there was barely a few inches of water--some lifeforce, some instinct, pushed them on. Bears and wolves caught a few of them too...In the end, the salmon that got to the spawning place were already decaying from the inside, dying as their life cycle came to a close. They had to mate quickly. So they did. The male was ready to fertilize as soon as the female laid the eggs. The female covered the eggs with some gravel. She then, in the words of the words of the announcer, "allows herself to die". It was so sad. Heck, I started crying. It makes me wonder what the salmon were thinking, if they think at all. The entire goal of their life is to go upstream and regenerate or become food for other animals. Is that what life is all about? You live, you work to provide life for someone else, and then you die. Is this like our purpose? Are we no better than anything else on Earth? Does Ego get in the way of us accepting this? What if there was one Salmon that went against the grain? He lived in the sea and didn't go upstream to spawn. He would die too, right? If he could think as well as humans, how would he percieve his situation? He would probably think he was not like the other Salmon. He probably would wonder why he was different. He would probably condemn their mindless insistence on going upstream. He would probably ask "What's the point?" As he got older, he would have second thoughts. He would think of the salmon who went before him, their children, who laugh at this crotchety old salmon, the recluse of the sea, the crazy one who just eats and takes up space. As he got older, he would probably regret not having sex, having kids, having fulfilled his purpose, or having at least attempted to make the journey. He would think "What was the point in hanging around here? Why didn't I just go?" As he died, he would also think maybe "Is this all there is?" What did I contribute? How did I make a difference? Who knows? Maybe the old Salmon contributed by showing the younger ones how not to be? I think we all contribute something to the world. Maybe there is more than one purpose. We touch so many lives along the way...I suppose the salmon are lucky if they are unable think about it.