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歲那年，只要一有機(jī)會，就會到他家小屋的碼頭上釣魚。（剩余668字）