Learning to fish is one of the most important skills a person should master.

But not in a river or a pond.

Well, not a literal river or pond.

Daniel Wallace’s literary masterpiece Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions, translated into the cinematic masterpiece Big Fish by the perfectly weird and surprisingly sentimental Tim Burton, does not dethrone The Great Gatsby as America’s favorite novel, but it surely has earned a spot on that same top-shelf.

The stories, the characters and the extraordinary circumstances experienced by an ordinary man should be read, seen and enjoyed by anybody who sees life through a dream-filled lens. This imaginative wonderland forces us to pause and challenge our surroundings and the people we meet and the people we become. It even dances around (though barefoot) the supreme question, “why are we here?”

Unfortunately, there is no magic sentence or grand reveal from Mr. Wallace or Mr. Burton that definitively answers that eternal uncertainty.

Fortunately though, Big Fish reminds us that earthly hints to answering this question are sprinkled along the long, winding path we walk.

It’s just an issue of how you see and hear the world.

Before we get too far into this week, remember that your wild imagination is not limited to the weekend.

Walking up a busy stairwell could simply be walking up a busy stairwell.

Or…