Fishing in Troubled Waters

there was another story that i heard on 92.4 today. again in Mandarin. here's the (roughly) translated version:

boy goes fishing. sees old man fishing in the most turbulent part of the river. boy thinks old man has few nuts loose cos boy thinks no fish would go to where waters turbulent. boy can't take it anymore, go ask old man. old man smiled, poured out big fishes which he has caught and dishes out ancient wisdom. old man he say, "small fish can survive with not much oxygen. but the strongest of them come to turbulent waters where the turbulence aerates the water. so they get more oxygen, get bigger."

i think that this is analogous to life. only the strong can take the challenge of chaos, of tumult, of pandemonium, of troubled times. only the strong can survive in the most trying of circumstances. and these obstacles, these challenges give them the added nourishment they need to grow even stronger, even fitter.

but the analogy breaks down (as most analogies do). going by the logic of the old man, the big fishes would die in calm waters, since they won't have enough oxygen. but strong and fit people would not die in calm, orderly times. on the contrary, they would do extremely well. they would dominate the weaker people around them, chew them up, spit them out. but if these stronger people continue to languish in calm and order, they revert to being soft and weak.

in other words, the biggest fishes in human society, while capable of domination, has to continue to seek challenges so as to remain strong. and if one does not want to be dominated, one should challenge oneself, revelling in overcoming obstacles so that one eventually becomes stronger.