A poetic fable about how unchecked hunger devours future potential.

The Fish That Ate Its Future

A Parable About Self-Destruction and Silent Regret

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In a lake forgotten by time,
there lived a fish who developed a hunger for its own future.

It began innocently.
One egg stolen.
A second swallowed.

“It’s only a few,” the fish thought.
“I have so many.”

But hunger is a patient architect.
It builds justifications faster than regret can tear them down.

The more it fed,
the smaller each bite seemed —
and the greater the cost it refused to feel.

Season after season blurred.
The fish grew fat.
The eggs grew few.

Until the day came
when the lake held no more songs,
no more ripples of life,
no more future to devour.

Only the heavy silence of what might have been.

The fish swam in shrinking circles,
heavier than it had ever been,
emptier than it had ever known.

It hadn’t been eaten by predators.
It had devoured itself.

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Reflection: The Echo We Often Miss

Some futures aren’t stolen by others.
They’re surrendered, quietly —
one unnoticed choice at a time.

We rarely feel the end coming
while we are still feasting.

Until all that’s left…
is the echo of a hunger that consumed us.

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FAQs

What is “The Fish That Ate Its Future” about?

It’s a symbolic story about self-destruction — how unchecked desire and short-term thinking can erase the very future we were trying to build.

Why is the fish a metaphor for modern regret?

Because often, what ends our potential isn’t external forces — it’s the appetites and compromises we quietly feed until it’s too late.