Father and the colorful lagoon carp

David Hill
October 1, 2012

Somewhere around summer 1979 I had the privilege of joining a bunch of muddy Unification Church brothers and sisters waist-deep in the Barrytown lagoon. We had been instructed in how to grab large swimming wild carp with our hands, roll it upside-down and carry each to a large bucket. The colorful ones were to be taken to Belvedere to live in the pond near holy ground.

New Future Photo staff was part of Belvedere at that time. I was part of that staff.

On the first of the month, it was father's custom to speak to the NY area members at holy ground. After his speech, someone told him that there were now a bunch of Barrytown carp in the pond. Father wanted to see the fish.

I had been to the pond several times the previous week to look at the fish. I was lucky to see 3 or 4 at any given time.

As father approached the pond, it was as if someone had rung a dinner bell. It seemed all of the fish swam to where father was standing. They started furiously jumping out of the water as if they wanted to see him...