So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

The dolphins evacuate earth after trying to warn humans of the imminent destruction of the planet. Their parting words?

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

(click for song)

Those were the words on RB's email autoreply today.

During a meeting this morning, it was announced that RB had himself... evacuated the earth.

Perhaps he intended the lyrics of the the song at the beginning of the movie (based on the book by Douglas Adams) to be his parting message:

So long and thanks for all the fish
So sad that it should come to this
We tried to warn you all but oh dear

You may not share our intellect
Which might explain your disrespect
For all the natural wonders that
grow around you

So long, so long and thanks
for all the fish

The world’s about to be destroyed
There’s no point getting all annoyed
Lie back and let the planet dissolve

Despite those nets of tuna fleets
We thought that most of you were sweet
Especially tiny tots and your
pregnant women

So long, so long, so long, so long, so long
So long, so long, so long, so long, so long
So long, so long and thanks
for all the fish

I wonder if he felt invisible. Or maybe he felt false - that the person everybody thought they were seeing was a facade that he couldn't escape. What was it that made living just too hard or painful?

Nobody suspected that RB was contemplating suicide. Maybe they should have (we tried to warn you all but oh dear).

Could somebody have made a difference for him? Would a smile, or invitation to go out for drinks after work, have made him reconsider his plans? What was the "straw that broke the camel's back" for him - and who dropped it there?

It makes you wonder, as you go about your day, if you've unwittingly been the person to drop the straw, or if you've somehow managed to ease the load just in time. I don't know that I'm the type to be able to ease the load, but I'm going to try to be mindful to at least not drop the straw.