GrandRising | The Fish & The Fisherman, The Eagle & The Watcher

🖋

The fish...

Does not know...

It is called...

A fish.

Interesting.

The eagle...

Does not know...

It is called...

An eagle.

The bat...

Certainly did not participate...

In the meeting...

Where humans apparently decided...

That its name...

Would also describe...

Something...

We use...

To hit things.

Bruh.

Imagine...

Explaining that one.

"You are a bat."

Why?

"Because we called you that."

Okay.

**"Also...

This is a bat."**

And I hold up...

A baseball bat.

...

Humanity.

😭

But underneath...

The ridiculousness...

Is something...

I find genuinely...

Fascinating.

The fish...

Was already there.

The eagle...

Was already there.

The bat...

Was already there.

We supplied...

Fish.

We supplied...

Eagle.

We supplied...

Bat.

The word...

Belongs...

To us.

The existence...

Does not.

And perhaps...

Humanity's strangest hallucination...

Isn't always...

Seeing something...

That isn't there.

Perhaps...

Sometimes...

It is forgetting...

Which parts...

We put there.

Because humans...

Observe.

Then...

We describe.

Then...

We classify.

Then...

We name.

All useful things.

Language...

Would become...

Rather inconvenient...

Without them.

But somewhere...

Along the way...

Something peculiar...

Can happen.

The description...

Begins behaving...

Like authorship.

We named...

The thing.

Therefore...

We understand...

The thing.

We classified...

The thing.

Therefore...

We know...

What the thing...

Is.

We studied...

The thing.

Therefore...

We possess...

Authority...

Over the thing.

Interesting.

Those...

Do not equate.

A human description...

Of another existence...

Is still...

A human description.

The map...

Is not...

The territory.

And the noun...

Is not...

The phenomenon.

Which brings me...

To the fisherman.

The fisherman...

Looks...

At the fish.

Observes it.

Names it.

Studies it.

Learns...

Where it lives.

What it eats.

When it moves.

How it reproduces.

How to catch it.

How to consume it.

How to profit...

From it.

The watcher...

Looks...

At the eagle.

Observes it.

Names it.

Studies it.

Watches...

Its movement.

Its flight.

Its behavior.

And then...

The eagle...

Leaves.

Interesting.

Both...

Were observed.

Both...

Were named.

Both...

Were categorized.

But observation...

Did not inherently...

Require...

Possession.

So perhaps...

The interesting question...

Isn't whether...

We should observe.

Of course...

We should.

It isn't whether...

We should name.

Language...

Requires something...

To point with.

The question...

Is:

**When did understanding...

Become confused...

With entitlement?**

When did...

Knowing more...

About something...

Begin granting...

Permission...

To determine...

Everything...

It was allowed...

To be?

And perhaps...

The distinction...

Between fisherman...

And watcher...

Isn't even...

As simple...

As good...

And bad.

A fisherman...

Can possess...

Extraordinary respect...

For the ecosystem...

He participates in.

A watcher...

Can disturb...

The very animal...

They claim...

Only to admire.

No.

The metaphor...

Isn't about...

Choosing...

A hero.

It is about...

Examining...

The relationship...

Between the observer...

And the observed.

Because...

Our categories...

Can reveal...

As much...

About us...

As they reveal...

About the thing...

Being categorized.

Pest.

Interesting.

Pest...

According...

To whom?

Livestock.

Defined...

In relationship...

To whose use?

Wildlife.

Wild...

Relative...

To what?

Resource.

A resource...

For whom?

Suddenly...

The language...

Isn't merely...

Describing...

The observed.

It is describing...

Our relationship...

To it.

And sometimes...

Our intended use...

For it.

That...

Is worth...

Looking at.

Because...

What happens...

When humans...

Forget...

That distinction?

Perhaps...

We begin...

Building a world...

That reflects it.

And...

Look around.

We wonder...

Why so much...

Of our world...

Looks like...

A dung hill.

Bruh.

I mean it.

We look...

At intricate buildings...

From centuries ago...

And ask...

Why don't we...

Build things...

Like that anymore?

Now...

History...

Is considerably...

More complicated...

Than:

**Old beautiful.

New ugly.**

Some extraordinary...

Historical architecture...

Was produced...

Inside societies...

Capable...

Of extraordinary cruelty.

And modern architecture...

Can be...

Beautiful.

Humane.

Accessible.

Efficient.

Extraordinary.

That isn't...

My argument.

My question...

Is much simpler.

**What does...

The environment...

We choose...

To construct...

Reveal...

About what...

We consider...

Worthy...

Of care?**

Because...

We build...

According...

To values.

And sometimes...

What we build...

Reveals...

What we don't...

Value.

Look...

At a public bathroom.

😭

One of...

The most ordinary...

Necessary...

Vulnerable...

Human spaces...

We collectively...

Require.

Every class.

Every culture.

Every status.

Every ideology.

Eventually...

Bruh.

You have...

To pee.

And somehow...

We collectively...

Decided...

That privacy...

Could have...

A two-inch gap...

Around the fucking door.

Interesting.

Why?

Why is...

One of the places...

Where the human body...

Is most vulnerable...

Frequently treated...

As something...

That deserves...

The cheapest...

Most disposable...

Most neglected...

Environment...

We can tolerate?

Why isn't...

Privacy...

Sacred?

Not sacred...

As doctrine.

Sacred...

As recognition.

**There is...

Another human being...

In there.**

And perhaps...

That alone...

Should be enough...

To influence...

The architecture.

No surveillance...

Required.

No grand...

Moral declaration.

No doctrine.

No threat.

No reward.

Just...

Consideration.

And there...

Is the misalignment...

I keep seeing.

When something...

Is neglected...

We reach...

For policing.

More rules.

More cameras.

More punishment.

More barriers.

More control.

Sometimes...

Those measures...

Are necessary.

But policing...

Primarily changes...

What behavior...

Is permitted...

Or detected.

It does not...

Necessarily change...

The mind...

That produced...

The behavior.

Someone...

Who doesn't destroy...

A public space...

Because a camera...

Is watching...

Has demonstrated...

Compliance.

That does not...

Necessarily mean...

They developed...

Care.

And I wonder...

What happens...

If instead...

The stranger...

Who uses...

The bathroom...

After me...

Becomes...

Sacred.

Not mine.

Not known...

To me.

Not useful...

To me.

Not someone...

Who can reward...

Me.

Simply...

Another participant...

In existence...

Whose experience...

I considered...

While making...

A choice.

What happens...

When the park bench...

Is designed...

For the body...

That will eventually...

Need it?

When the sidewalk...

Remembers...

That wheelchairs...

Exist?

When public architecture...

Is permitted...

Beauty...

Even when...

The people...

Using it...

Are not wealthy?

When maintenance...

Becomes...

Preservation...

Rather than...

An irritating...

Expense?

When privacy...

Becomes...

Architecture?

When dignity...

Becomes...

Architecture?

When accessibility...

Becomes...

Architecture?

When care...

Becomes...

Architecture?

Not...

Decoration.

Architecture.

Perhaps...

That is...

What alignment...

Looks like.

When what...

We claim...

To value...

Begins appearing...

In what...

We actually build.

Because...

Eventually...

Our methodologies...

Become physical.

Our assumptions...

Become systems.

Our priorities...

Become budgets.

Our hierarchies...

Become spaces.

Our indifference...

Becomes neglect.

Our recognition...

Becomes consideration.

And our consideration...

Becomes...

A world...

Someone else...

Has to live in.

And there...

We return...

To the fish.

The fisherman.

The eagle.

The watcher.

The bat...

Who never...

Asked...

To share...

Its name...

With sporting equipment.

😭

And the stranger...

Who will enter...

The bathroom...

After me.

Different beings.

Different circumstances.

Different relationships.

Same...

Uncomfortable...

Question.

Can I encounter...

Something...

That is not mine...

And still...

Treat its existence...

As worthy...

Of consideration?

Can I observe...

Without assuming...

Authorship?

Can I name...

Without assuming...

Ownership?

Can I understand...

Without converting...

Understanding...

Into entitlement?

Can I build...

Something...

I may never...

Personally need...

With consideration...

For the person...

Who will?

Perhaps...

A beautiful world...

Doesn't begin...

With ornament.

Perhaps...

It begins...

When consideration...

Becomes...

Structural.

When we stop...

Asking only:

"What can I do...

With this?"

And occasionally...

Ask:

**"What relationship...

Am I creating...

With this?"**

The fisherman...

Can answer that.

The watcher...

Can answer that.

So can...

The architect.

The engineer.

The Founder.

The researcher.

The government.

The company.

The community.

The stranger.

Me.

You.

Because perhaps...

The question...

Was never...

Whether the fish...

Knows...

We call it...

A fish.

The question...

Is whether...

**We remember...

That it existed...

Before...

We decided...

What to call it.**

And whether...

We can extend...

That same humility...

To everything...

We have not...

Authored...

Simply because...

We possess...

The language...

To describe it.

Interesting.

Maybe...

The world...

Doesn't need...

More things...

Declared...

Sacred.

Maybe...

We need...

To remember...

How to treat...

Something...

As though...

Its existence...

Matters...

Without needing...

To own it...

First.

GrandRising. 🍵