An old-fashioned young man went fishing one day. He caught a huge fish. It was so big and heavy that he had to sling it across his shoulders to carry it home. It became an Albatross around his neck just like the Ancient Mariner. It was as tough as shoe leather and had vicious teeth that could bite him, tear him to pieces and even kill him. Did he catch the fish? Maybe it caught him.Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea caught a gigantic fish. In bringing it home it was eaten by sharks, torn apart day after day. Until when he came home, only the skeleton remained, all goodness stripped from the gift from the sea by the sea.
Jesus carried his cross, beaten and bloody and was nailed on it. A sacrificial willing victim to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah.
Steinbeck's Kino opening oysters day after day at last found the Pearl of the World. Unable to exchange it for its worth he threw it back into the sea.
There is only one world. You have only one life. Neither one of these can be exchanged since there is only one. Baudrillard calls this Impossible Exchange. However, Virtual Reality can steal both of them. Baudrillard calls this The Perfect Crime.
The young man found a girl. As David in the film David and Lisa says, "A pearl of a girl."
