Sometimes I'd like to ask God why He allows poverty, famine and injustice when He could do something about it. But I'm afraid God might ask me the same question.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Mommy Moral Dilemma

Last YEAR Marc took the kids to the pet store to get Elvin" our pet fish, who knew a Beta fish would live for over a year, especially with the kind of neglect it received in this house.   Not to mention it was the sorriest looking beta fish in the world.  Have you ever seen a female Beta fish,  they are pale white and don't have those pretty tales.. looks like an oversized Minnow.  I think the kids picked it out because they felt sorry for it.   Anyhow, his bowl was quite grimy and gross, so I cleaned it, cleaned it up really good, put him back in his pretty little bowl, and 20 minutes later he was a goner.    So do I tell the kiddos, or do I take a drive to the Walmart and buy another oversized minnow???  I'm really not up for the whole "he's in a better place, sorry I killed your poor little fish" discussion.   But maybe they would pick out a new fish, a fish that looked like it belonged in a bowl and not in a creek?  And maybe honesty is the best policy???  Isn't that the cleanest fish bowl you ever saw?  When I told Marc the fish died, his first reaction was, "you didn't clean it off with bleach did you".  Uhh, yeah I did, but it was gross, and I rinsed the little castle and the rocks off really good afterwards.   I don't know if I will be able to sleep tonight knowing I am a fish murderer... 

7 comments:

Cathie Comfort said...

you are so funny! i killed my sons frog this week also. oh well.

monica said...

Hmmm, this is a moral dilemma. At least you have a clean fish bowl...:)Monica

Mommy said...

Oh thank you for the laugh. Now I'm sorry it is at the expense of your dead fish but it is still a laugh nonetheless. I say, pause before I say this and then say really fast, buy a new one. There. I said it. I have no idea how to get into the "all fish do not go to heaven" discussion with little people. So, just go to Walmart. Someday it will be a good topic of discussion at the Thanksgiving table. As for the fish murderer comment...still laughing at that one...fish murderer...Bwahahahahaha...

Kathleen said...

Ah, memories! I, too, killed our precious fish "Sunset" that Rachel won at a little school carnival. Turns out tap water killed it, and we just thought, when we put him in his nice clean bowl FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME, that his crazy swimming was out of sheer joy at his magnificent living quarters! Nope - poor guy was pretty much suffocating from the tap water. And just to make matters more sick - yes, I did scrapbook it (picture of Rachel with all her little "Playskool" people surrounding the fish bowl, welcoming him to the family, oblivious that he was thrashing around in an attemtpt to breathe. Yes, I included the email I sent out that night about the whole thing - broke my heart, too, though I didn't realize it was my fault for a few days (just thought we bought a bum fish.) No opinion on what you tell the kids - you have enough cool points with them that this won't break you - good luck...!

Amy said...

Go get the new fish before they notice...but grab some of the water treatment stuff to remove the chlorine. Otherwise, you will get to do it all over again. Might want to throw in a live plant too while you are at it...
Good luck!

chksngr said...

Note to self - no chlorine in a fish bowl...should we ever have one. But I did bust up laughing at this! I'm not sure I'd buy a new one. I just don't know...hmmmm...

Carmi said...

Amy you crack me up! We had a beta fish that lived about 3 years until it finally died.