Postscript

I woke up from a little nap with Ayize and came downstairs (he is thankfully still snoozing) with plans for a happy little update. And yet, little Salvage, or "Oh no!" as Ayize continues to call him (but now with joy instead of concern, it was so cute to hear him say it), had different plans.

I'm so sorry to say that I had gotten my hopes up too high. He seemed so perky this morning, even doing a little darting around and nibbling. I was ecstatic!

But when we came home from our Sunday morning gymnastics class, he was breathing a little heavier. His bowl is oxygenated so I didn't do anything, figuring he was just having a tough time fighting that pesky swim bladder of his (he took a lot of little "breaks" like this last night and this morning but kept quickly recovering to swim, explore and eat again).

I went upstairs with Ayize to lay down for a bit and came down just now (one hour later), and our little fish is gone.

I tried to give him a little piece of paradise here on earth, but it was not to be I suppose, and so he was called away to the great unknown where he will surely find all the peace and kindness that he so deserved. I am often overwhelmingly frustrated by all the suffering that we humans visit upon this world and all of its creatures, and at the moment, this emotion is really coming to head, so apologies for he following (quick) rant.

I truly believe that we are no greater than any other creature walking this earth: we all live, some of us have offspring, and then we all die. Yet our supposed superiority often leads us to great cruelty, even when it is the (often worse) cruelty of simple uncaring, a closing of our eyes and a blind acceptance to what we deem acceptable in our everyday world. I suppose feeder fish make the lives of the other captive animals they serve to feed better, thus improving our own lives by the continued amusement such caged pets bring to our everyday lives...but somewhere in this whole cycle, everything seems terribly wrong to me.

Anyway, the injustices of this world, no matter how seemingly "small", are beyond my scope today so I will stop here. Ayize and I will bury our little Salvage and remember him with love and respect.

So sorry, Little Dude, we tried our best...but perhaps all we had to offer could not compare with all you surely have now. Rest in peace, and remember you were loved and thought of with kindness and joy by many, even if only for a microcosm in time.