Powerful Passages

I recently started reading Amy Tan's Saving Fish From Drowning. It was the title that caught my attention, and when I read the quote on the opening page, I knew I wanted to read on:

A pious man explained to his followers: "It is evil to take lives and
nobel to save them. Each day I pledge to save a hundred lives. I
drop my net in the lake and scoop out a hundred fishes. I place
the fishes on the bank, where they flop and twirl. "Don't be scared,"
I tell those fishes. "I am saving you from drowning." Soon enough, the
fishes grow calm and lie still. Yet, sad to say, I am always too late.
The fishes expire. And because it is evil to waste anything, I take
those dead fishes to market and I sell them for a good price. With the
money I receive, I buy more nets so I can save more fishes. -Anonymous

I'll have to find out how the story might have something to do with good intentions
and ignorance. Amy Tan's descriptive prose is beautiful, and tomorrow when we share passages, I've marked a couple that make me feel as if I am there with the author on her journey to trace Budda's footsteps from southwestern China.

Your goal is to read a minimum of one hundred pages a week for this quarter. There are five more weeks in this quarter. Happy reading!