When I was a little girl, I absolutely loved the ocean. My family and our close friends would go to Stinson and rent a house on the man-made lagoon. We spent hours playing in the sand on our favorite stretch of beach on the natural lagoon. We invented tag games ("man in the chair tag" was a favorite), and watched in horror as fishermen caught leopard sharks. I wasn't afraid of going in the water. The only thing I detested about the lagoon was the seaweed. When I got older, though, I would walk in the surf and maybe go as far in as my upper thighs, but I wouldn't dare boogyboard, an activity I had once enjoyed. I thought that maybe I was just getting older, and the activities that I had once spent days participating in were now boring. Then I realized that it wasn't my transition into adolescence, but the ambiguity of the water itself that was keeping me on shore. There were creatures beneath the lagoon's surface, creatures I knew very little about, mainly bat rays and leopard sharks. I wasn't afraid of the creatures hurting me, heck, I was giant compared to them.
Humans live on land (obviously), so when they are in a body of water, they are truly in another being's home. The ocean is powerful, and it must be respected. Imagine being submerged (with scuba gear) in open ocean. You can only see a short distance in front of you and side to side. You do not know what is beneath or below you. You are vulnerable because you are in an environment that is so unfamilar and foreign. Your senses are not as strong as they are on land. The ocean is a wonderful habitat, but it is not ours. It wasn't until recently that I again realized my love for the ocean and the creatures in it. For the longest time, I was terrified of whales, not because I thought they would hurt me, but because of their sheer size. I found this to be incredibly humbling. Now, I love watching videos on YouTube about whales and asking question after question about their behavior. We must protect and respect our oceans and the many creatures that thrive in them.
Humans live on land (obviously), so when they are in a body of water, they are truly in another being's home. The ocean is powerful, and it must be respected. Imagine being submerged (with scuba gear) in open ocean. You can only see a short distance in front of you and side to side. You do not know what is beneath or below you. You are vulnerable because you are in an environment that is so unfamilar and foreign. Your senses are not as strong as they are on land. The ocean is a wonderful habitat, but it is not ours. It wasn't until recently that I again realized my love for the ocean and the creatures in it. For the longest time, I was terrified of whales, not because I thought they would hurt me, but because of their sheer size. I found this to be incredibly humbling. Now, I love watching videos on YouTube about whales and asking question after question about their behavior. We must protect and respect our oceans and the many creatures that thrive in them.
 |
| Bolinas Lagoon (parksconservancy.org) |
No comments:
Post a Comment