Candle Fish Stories

🕯️

“It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.”

So said William L. Watkinson.

When it feels dark, look for a candle you can light …

[I know that on many levels, that is kinda corny advice - hopefully you’ll bear with me as I try to draw a few strands together here].

🦈

As defence against predators, small fish gather in large groups, or shoals.

It works because:

• Many eyes make it easier to spot danger.
• The size of the group makes it hard to target individual fish.
• Rapid, emergent movements reduce the success of any attacks.

All of this combines to allow tiny fish to survive against much larger sharks.

The defence mechanism isn’t perfect [neither is the analogy!]. Predators have developed counter measures - they gang up, separating large shoals into smaller groups, gradually isolating individual fish …

📜

For a story to gather momentum, it needs to be simple.

But - almost by definition - simple stories are rarely the whole story: they miss too much out.

I often hear about the need for one, large ‘unifying’ story to inspire change.

What if the counter to one large ‘shark’ story is hundreds - thousands? - of smaller stories?

🕯️ 🦈 📜

If you’re feeling like a lonely fish, vulnerable to shark attacks, maybe go find a few other fish to hang out with.

Share some stories. Light a few candles together.

Who knows - maybe a ‘shoal’ of candles can become a blaze of light?

PS Studies also show that fish in shoals exhibit lower stress levels …