Even Fish

For a long time it was thought fish felt no pain.
It was assumed they didn’t mind gasping
for breath when flung out of water.
They didn’t mind when the hook
tore their mouths to pieces…
They didn’t care about being beaten on the head
with a hammer to kill them.
(My uncle used to do this regularly
after fishing, in the summer, when I was a kid)
Fish didn’t really mind dying and being cooked for dinner
Not at all.
What a surprise that scientists are now saying fish do feel pain!
Feel it a lot as a matter of fact.
Who knew?
This puts a new light on a lot of things.
Are there other creatures like fish?

What about the homeless?
They are out on our city streets in below zero weather.
I think it was previously thought homeless people
build up a tolerance for the cold…
They don’t feel it as much as we do…
They are like the Northern animals.
They adapt.
In fact, they might actually like the cold.
Fish don’t seem to mind it…
except the tropical ones of course,
They die in cold water.
Are the homeless like fish?

Many of the homeless are mentally ill.
It's easy to think that
not only do they not mind the cold,
they also do not need to eat regularly...
Because they don’t remember when they last ate anyway.
They say fish have very short attention spans and forget easily.
Fish are flaky that way
And we do know it is possible to overfeed goldfish.
It is well known you can kill them by feeding them too much.
But if fish feel pain...
Do they know when they are hungry?
Are the mentally ill like fish?

And what about the children of war?
They get their arms and legs blown off by cluster bombs
and it doesn’t seem to affect them a lot.
I saw it on CNN...they cope quite well, we are told by
"the most trusted name in news"…
Because they are used to the hard life, I suppose.
It’s just another thing to deal with for them.
And a fish that escapes the hook
or is thrown back with a bleeding mouth
can usually just swim away none the worse for wear.
But if fish feel pain,
do they have a happy life afterward?
Are Iraqi children like fish?

And what about prisoners of war?
If fish can feel pain, do young men
who are shackled, hooded, flown to Cuba
and kept in wire animal cages
in the hot sun,also experiencing unpleasantness?
The British Prime Minister said the Guantanamo Bay camp is
'an unsatisfactory situation',
unsatisfactory... such an interesting word to use--
But perhaps the Prime Minister assumes these human beings
are not capable of feeling distress.
Perhaps he thinks they can spend time in these conditions because
they don’t live in houses like we do anyway...
After all, a wire cage must be
only marginally worse than what they're used to.
And scientists say goldfish can swim
around and around the same bowl without getting bored.
You can even keep them in a tiny drinking glass,
or a Glad bag in a pinch.
Are foreign prisoners like fish?

Now, consider third world mothers
When a child dies in a bombing,
their mothers may not miss them that much.
They have big families with lots and lots of children.
Too many really.
One less shouldn't make that much difference.
A fish mother has hundreds of offspring…
It’s expected that a few will get gobbled up by bigger fish.
Do they even know some of them are gone?
What about fish who take their young
into their mouths to protect them?
Are third world mothers like fish?

When the President of the United States
takes a War Hammer to the people of a third world country
(like my uncle did to fishes so long ago)
Does he realise they feel pain?
Someone should show him the research.

Even fish can feel pain.
Even fish.