Catch Of A Lifetime

He was 11 and went fishing every chance hegot from the dock at his family’s cabin.

On the day before the bass season opened，he and his father were fishing early in the eve-ning. Then he tied on a small silver lure and prac-ticed casting. When his peapole doubled over， heknew something huge was on the other end. Hisfather watched with admiration as the boy skillful-ly worked the fish alongside the dock.

Finally， he lifted the exhausted fish from thewater. It was the largest one he had ever seen， butit was a bass.

The father lit a match and looked at hiswatch. It was 10 P.M.—two hours before the sea-son opened. He looked at the fish， then at the boy.

“You’ll have to put it back， son.”he said.

“Dad！”cried the boy.

“There will be other fish，”said his father.

“Not as big as this one，”cried the boy.

He looked around the lake. No others wereanywhere around in the moonlight. He lookedagain at his father. Even though no one had seenthem， nor could anyone ever know what time hecaught the fish， the boy could tell by the clarity ofhis father’s voice that the decision was not nego-tiable. He slowly worked the hook out of the lipof the huge bass and lowered it into the black wa-ter. The boy suspected that he would never againsee such a great fish.

Thatwas34yearsago.Today，theboyisasuc-cessful architect in New York City. He takes hisownsonanddaughtersfishingfromthesamedock.

And he was right. He has never again caught such a magnificent fish as the one he landed thatnight long ago. But he does see that same fish—again and again—every time he comes up againsta question of ethics.

For， as his father taught him， ethics are sim-ple matters of right and wrong. It is only the prac-tice of ethics that is difficult. Do we do rightwhen no one is looking？ Do we refuse to cut cor-ners to get the design in on time？We would if we were taught to put the fishback when we were young. For we would havelearned the truth. The decision to do right livesfresh and fragrant in our memory.

It is a story we will proudly tell our friends.

Not about how we had a chance to beat the ruleand took it，but about how we did the right thingand were forever strengthened.

他11岁那年，只要一有机会，就会到他家小屋的码头上钓鱼。

鲈鱼季节开放的前一天晚上，他和父亲早早开始垂钓。他系上鱼饵，练习如何抛线。当鱼杆向下弯的时候，他知道线的另一端一定钓到了一条大鱼。父亲看着他技巧纯熟地在码头边沿和鱼周旋，眼神充满赞赏。

最后他将筋疲力尽的鱼提出水面。

这是他所见过的最大的一条，却是一条鲈鱼。

父亲点燃了一根火柴，看了看表。晚上十点了 — —离开禁还有两个小时。他看了看鱼，又看了看男孩。

“你得把它放回去，孩子。”父亲说道。

“爸爸！”男孩叫道。

“还有其他的鱼嘛。”父亲说道。

“但没这么大。”男孩叫道。

男孩环视了一遍湖。月光下，附近没有其他人。他又看了看他父亲。从父亲不可动摇的语气中，他知道这个决定没有商量余地，即使没有人看到他们，更无从得知他们何时钓到了鱼。他慢慢地将鱼钩从大鲈鱼的唇上取下，然后蹲下将鱼放回水中。男孩想，他可能再也看不到这么大的鱼了。

那是34年前的事了。现在，男孩是纽约的一个成功的建筑师，他带着自己的儿女仍然在同一个码头上钓鱼。

他猜得没错。自那次以后，他再也没有钓上过那么大的鱼了。但每次他面临道德难题而举棋不定的时候，他的眼前就会再三浮现出那条鱼。

他父亲曾告诉他，道德即是简单的对和错的问题，但要付诸行动却很难。在没人瞧见的时候，我们是否仍遵循道德准则？为了将图纸按时完成，我们是不是也会走捷径？

在我们还小的时候，如果有人教导我们把鱼放回去，我们会这样做，因为我们还在学习真理。正确的决定在我们的记忆里变得深刻而清晰。

这个故事我们可以骄傲地讲给朋友听，不是关于如何攻击和战胜某种规则，而是如何做正确的决定，从而变得无比坚强。