An absolutely true Valentine's Day story of Merit Making

In Thailand we usually celebrate holidays and birthdays by going to the temple or to an orphanage and 'making merit' by either feeding the monks or feeding the kids.

Currently in El Centro and with my dog in his last months due to cancer my wife has agreed to give up our apartment and we are living together in primitive conditions.

We are waiting for last month's commissions to be deposited in our account and it is now 15 days late and we are on fumes.

So don't have a lot planned for Valentine's Day and our last few bucks until we get paid.

So we take the Golden Retriever to El Centro's main park where we go once a day to let him run while I do my walk and we feed the ducks, geese and pigeons.

They have one large pond and a smaller pond that is slightly elevated that has a little fountain in it. By running the fountain they get a flow of water that helps keep it clean.

As we walk past the smaller pool we see 4 pieces of gold flashing in the water.

We discover 4 carp and one catfish swimming in only about two inches of water.

They are under attack by seagulls who have already picked apart 3 other fish.

The fish are swimming on their sides trying to move and avoid the seagulls that are starting to gang up on the last 5 fish.

The fish have only minutes left.

I get the plastic bag that had the bread for the ducks and geese and walk through the mud and reach the water, miracuously without falling into the mud.

The seagulls retreat and the fish actually swim into this plastic bag. My wife picks up two by hand. I know this sounds strange but it actually appears that the fish understand we are there to help (maybe because they get fed food in a park pond they are not afraid of people).

We carry the 5 fish to the larger pond and release them.

And this was really the best way for us to spend our Valentines Day together, finding a small little way to make merit together.

No commercialism, no cheesy cards, just my wife and I wading into the mud and celebrating the miracle of life with some fellow earth travellers watched by our dog, Champ, who loves the whole adventure.

And that is the end of the story, every word of it true.

But there is a post script. It is unrelated (in my Western objective thinking) or completely related (in my wife's hightened Thai Karmic perception) depending on your point of view to the following.

We cleaned off the mud and got back to our room.

On my email is a note from a large union that has agreed to accept a proposal we have been sending back and forth for three years. The local board has sent it to the membership for election. If it goes through it could generate what would normally be about 6 months worth of income, and it would significantly reduce the cost of some benefits for that union. As I told you it is completely unrelated to the story above and in no way am I suggesting that little acts of merit making ever have any direct impact on the mundane profane world. Just don't try and convince my wife of that.