Book 314 - A Year of Magical Learning

Reflection Title: We’ll do anything for our kids!

Book – The Founding Fish by John McPhee

Book Description:

John McPhee's twenty-sixth book is a braid of personal history, natural history, and American history, in descending order of volume. Each spring, American shad-Alosa sapidissima-leave the ocean in hundreds of thousands and run heroic distances upriver to spawn. McPhee--a shad fisherman himself--recounts the shad's cameo role in the lives of George Washington and Henry David Thoreau. He fishes with and visits the laboratories of famous ichthyologists; he takes instruction in the making of shad darts from a master of the art; and he cooks shad in a variety of ways, delectably explained at the end of the book. Mostly, though, he goes fishing for shad in various North American rivers, and he "fishes the same way he writes books, avidly and intensely. He wants to know everything about the fish he's after--its history, its habits, its place in the cosmos" (Bill Pride, The Denver Post). His adventures in pursuit of shad occasion the kind of writing--expert and ardent--at which he has no equal.

Reflection:

Well, I now officially know more about fishing and The American Shad than I ever could have imagined!

Before listening to John McPhee’s lifelong love affair with the American Shad, I’d never even heard of the fish before (sorry not fish because we know that Fish Don’t Exist from our previous lesson...I kid). Turns out, I had heard a lot about one of its more famous cousin’s called the Salmon. Those 2 species live a very similar existence from what I understand. They are both primarily saltwater fish for most of their lives but return to swim upstream in freshwater rivers to spawn.

John McPhee calls the American Shad the “Athlete Fish”. They come in from the ocean in a fasted state and on a mission. They do not eat on this journey upstream. The Shad live of their fat reserves, and they swim as far as they can and as fast as they can upstream until they no longer can go any further. Then they stop and spawn.

This reminds me of the book The Complete Guide to Fasting where we learned that when you are hungry, our bodies chemically change. You get focused and locked in. Your senses are heightened, and your body is primed for performance.

That makes sense for humans, that priming for performance was to help us to lock in on finding our next meal. We need to be at our best to make sure we can feed ourselves and our families.

For the Shad, that isn’t the case? They aren’t burning their fat reserves and forsaking eating to score a big meal.

So why do the Shad undertake this treacherous journey? Why do they forsake eating? Why do they lock in on performance and swim as fast and as long as they can on their fat reserves? Why do they risk their lives and take the hard road to swim upstream? Unlike the Salmon, they don’t even know where they are going? WHAT IS THE POINT?

That is a great question, and one that no one really knows the answer to at this point, per John McPhee.

However, after listening to this story and combining it with all the other knowledge of this journey, I think I know exactly why the Shad do it. Here it is, WE WILL DO ANYTHING FOR TO GIVE OUR CHILDREN A CHANCE AT LIFE!

I think the Shad instinctively know that the further that they push themselves beyond where any other predator will go, the better odds that their children survive. If they can go just a little harder and swim a little further upstream…it eliminates another idiot from the danger pool and means more food for their kids upon arrival. The adult Shad don’t know where they are going necessarily, but they know how they will get there (as hard and as fast as they can).

RESPECT, Shad! I get it!

This Year of Magical Learning Journey in a lot of ways is all about my children as well. I’m doing this to give them the best chance at a successful life by leaving a blueprint they can follow and learn from when I’m gone. I’m willing to do some crazy things to achieve that like read 365 books, run 1,000’s of miles, and type 300,000 words on a screen each morning for 15 months straight in order to leave this guide.

Parents will go to great lengths for the smallest chance to give our children a chance at life in this world. You name it and a parent will do it. We will starve ourselves, we won’t sleep, we will sacrifice our creature habits, we will train our minds and bodies, we will jump off cliffs, we will lift up cars, etc.

If it gives our child a chance at life in this world, we will make it happen even if it means we don’t make it back downstream.

Question: In what ways do you sacrifice for the ones you love to give them the best odds at a chance at life?

---

Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - The Founding Fish by John McPhee