He looked around the lake,
no other fishermen or boats were anywhere around in the moonlight.
He looked again at his father.
Even though no one had seen them,
nor could anyone ever know what time he caught the fish,
the boy could tell by the clarity of his father's voice that the decision was not negotiable.
He slowly worked the hook out of the lip of the huge bass and lowered it into the black water.
That was 34 years ago.
Today, the boy is a successful architect in New York City.
He has never again caught such a magnificent fish as the one he landed that night long ago.
But he does see that same fish - again and again -
every time he comes up against a question of ethics.
For, as his father taught him,
ethics are simple matters of right and wrong.
It is only the practice of ethics that is difficult.