Alas!
Oh Poland, poor sweet Poland, survived parties, survived his home being destroyed, survived life in a solo cup* only to be laid low by a frigid blast from the cruel north.

But perhaps Poland's short, turbulent life is simply a metaphor for all our lives, so maybe in death Poland has given us a warning.

*A friend of mine was expelled from a maritime college after a photo surfaced showing her holding a solo cup

Nice story about animal cruelty, asshole. May you be reincarnated as a betta fish.

"I don't know if fish feel" is a ridiculous excuse for cruelty. You seem bright enough. It takes two seconds to search the internet and find out fish are sensate, feel, become depressed, have friends, have needs. Please do not breed.

I think this is a beautiful story about how good intentions produce bad results and that none of us are ever good enough for our pets. We may judge Rich for all that he failed to provide Poland. We may claim that he should have been like the Roomate who purchased an elaborate aquarium and kept careful watch over his fish. But even the gallant, fish-loving roomate ultimately boiled his fish alive. No matter how well we try to care for our pets, at the end of the day we are still enslaving animals for our own enjoyment. While we should absolutely make our pets as comfortable as possible, we can’t pretend that these trappings mask the true horror of what we are doing: depriving our animals of a chance to have a natural habitat and have freedom and agency. All our pets are Poland.

Rename this "Diary of a Decorating Dickhead".