Fish Tales Told Here [PHIL-OSOPHY]

A 14-year-old Marshfield boy is receiving accolades from everywhere after he caught a monster fish that weighed more than 630 pounds last week near Green Harbor Marina.

It was a lifelong dream of young Anthony Tavares, the son of Marshfield's Chief of Police, to reel in a supersized bluefin tuna.

Anthony's dream brought back memories of reading The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway's short Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, with certain PHIL-OSPHY twists added here.

Hemingway tells the story of a battle between an aging, experienced fisherman, Santiago, and a king-size marlin. For 84 days, Santiago has endured "salao," the worst form of unluckiness, to the point where even his apprentice was forbidden to sail with him. But Santiago, confident that his unlucky streak would end soon, takes his skiff into the Gulf Stream, sets his lines, and by that afternoon, his bait was taken by a mighty, mega marlin.

For those of you who haven't read the classic, I won't give away much more except to say there's profound symbolism and deeper meaning in the Hemingway story that reminds me of young Anthony Tavares, who always had a dream to catch the big one. Dreams and goals are an important part of life, as well as Hemingway's novella. But the fish tale of this Massachusetts youngster and the old Cuban man transcends the obvious.

In life, we need to have dreams, and if we really want to make those dreams a reality, we have to struggle and work hard towards achieving those goals, regardless of our age or circumstances.

In other words, don't let your dreams persist in remaining just dreams.

Phil Paleologos is the host of The Phil Paleologos Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Contact him at phil@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @PhilPaleologos. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.