Deprived of technology, pampered mammals like us are left unarmed and vulnerable to the harsh realities of nature. Living in the wild provides no luxury, and our lives hang by a thread as survival weighs down on us.
What ever happened to man being the highest form of life, like our theology teachers taught us? Surely, intellectual creatures like us will find a way to compensate for our inability to breathe underwater and lack of talent to build our fortresses in the deep blue sea.
After seeing two Great Whites (Carcharodon carcharias) attack a surfer (Homo sapiens), my itching fingers couldn't help but blog about how this man accumulated the guts to trifle with danger and fortunately for him, lived to brag about it. This particular surfer tested his luck the second time, and that's right, was attacked by a shark yet again. The shark failed to gobble him up (again) and merely ended up snacking on his surfboard.
Either this surfer dude possessed incredibly good luck or God is simply watching up there shaking his head in dismay. No matter how powerful God is, he couldn't stop us from committing mistakes. This is where freedom of choice comes in, and when people choose to become potential preys, God really can't do anything about it except let nature take its course and we are reminded that our bodies are also edible, tasty bleeding objects. Splashing happily in a shark's territory makes us fair game in the beautiful cycle of life.
Anyway, this surfer's story was understandable because the sport itself means putting one's life on the line --- meaning anybody involved in it has automatically signed a contract with Death. No issue there.Probably some Christian fundamentalist readers are gritting their teeth by now,
bible in hand, ready to attack me with the closest verses in the Old or New
Testament.("God will protect us! He loves us!")
God also didn't make a whale swallow a man alive. But he did, didn't he? At least, that's what the
Bible narrated. No matter how great an effort we invest into deceiving ourselves
that we are safe from danger, we aren't, and these things do happen.I believe God is an artist at heart. Destroying our environment is like putting a
mustache on the Mona Lisa Smile painting. How would an artist feel to see a
masterpiece sabotaged?
Thinking along this line would give God human-like characteristics. If God knew how to be angry and forgive, then he (or she, for feminists out there) must also be undergoing the same emotions we do. This is my personal view of God.
Of course, not everybody can accept that; to some, God is the supreme being totally devoid of any emotion.Some believers imagine God as a gigantic bearded white male wearing an ivory-colored robe living in a far off heaven somewhere beyond the universe and spends his time on earth
sitting on a cloud while watching us midgets obey or defy his teachings; some
prefer imagining him as a pair of glowing, sacred hands resembling "Thing" from the
Adams Family cartoon series. It makes me wonder why artists won't portray him
as a pair of feet instead, or even a gigantic, glowing brain. Oh well.For me, God is an intangible, invisible, and reachable divinity; both a father
figure and unpredictable bodyguard, whose home is found within anyone who
considers, believes, ignores, or abhors his existence.
What truly appalled me was the bubbly group of people who treated the ocean like their own private swimming pool. They thought it amusing to take a dip in the waters 300 miles from shore, hours away from rescue without wearing any protective gear to boot, and found themselves shocked to witness one of their female companions attacked by a shark.
They never stopped to think that predators were under them probably thinking, "Ooooh, yay me. Lunch."
To the shark, the victim was served on a silver platter.
Take note this attack was unprovoked, but it was definitely careless of these people to jump in a situation that endangered their lives because it looked "fun".
Despite the fact that we are more likely to get killed by a donkey than a shark, this only goes to show how little we know and how uneducated we are when it comes to understanding nature.
Yet even as I ramble on how dumb their behavior was, it's in the past. All people do dumb things ---- the better ones being more honest about it, such as admitting their sins to make amends, than others.
It must be traumatic for the shark victims to see their lives flash before their eyes as the predator slowly decapitates them with its powerful biting power. These people may not have known the precautions, or were blind from the dangers of the wild.
Summer is widespread. People around the globe flock to beaches to enjoy a well-deserved vacation. Where there are beaches, there is marine life; and where there is marine life, there are predators looking for food; and where there are predators, there is danger; and where there is danger, there are humans jumping right in.
Sharks demand respect, and this includes respecting their territory. They are both fascinating yet misunderstood creatures and a potential threat to anything made up of flesh & meat. Any human is an exotic part of their menu.
Here are some useful information about shark attacks and what to do to avoid being wedged in between their massive rows of pointy teeth.
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LIST OF SHARKS AND THEIR ATTACKS
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Bump and bite and sneak attacks:
Great White shark (Carcharodon carcharias)
Tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier)
Bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas)
Great hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran)
Shortfin mako (Isurus oxyrhynchus)
Oceanic whitetip (Carcharhinus longimanus)
Galapagos shark(Carcharhinus galapagensis)
Caribbean reef shark (Carcharhinus perezi)
Hit and run attacks:
Blacktip (Carcharhinus limbatus)
Spinner (Carcharhinus brevipinna)
Blacknose (Carcharhinus acronotus)
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AVOIDING SHARK ATTACKS
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http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/08/0804_040804_shark_attack.html
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WHAT TO DO WHEN A SHARK ATTACKS YOU
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If you and your friends are stranded in the middle of an ocean, say your boat has sunken to the bottom of the sea and help is nowhere in sight, and sharks begin feasting on the other passengers, slowly closing in on you --- worry not --- there is still hope!
Here are some useful tips what I learned from the Shark Documentary Marathon:
1) Avoid splashing & screaming like a drowning fish, because chances are, the shark will think you're a potential meal. Splashing noises are like dinner bells for them. It is crucial that you control your limbic system and use your temporal lobe instead. Just float or move very, very slowly.
2) Move close to each other and give each other a group hug! Make it appear like you're something bigger than the sharks. They are more likely to prey on individuals than a group of people huddled together.
3) If all else fails, and the shark still wants to munch on you, then be as aggressive as possible. Literally fight for your life until you can get out of the water. Punch, kick, bite (okay, so maybe not bite), swing your arms and pray you hit something. If your eyes are still intact, and you're not yet blind from excessive bleeding, then target the eyes and the gills --- the two most sensitive body parts of a shark.
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Finally, always take precaution not just around sharks; there are smaller dangerous sea creatures living near the coast. Who would have guessed the dedicated animal conservationist Steve Irwin, who would wrestle alligators twice is height, would perish from the attack of a sting ray? His life, until death, was a melodramatic soap opera of Mother Nature and of survival.
You don't have to be an environmentalist or a nature-lover to be part of the environment, because you already are. This means all laws of nature apply to you --- with every breath, with every thought, with every calorie you gain sitting in front of the computer --- nature is working fastidiously and no time is wasted.
With this said, enjoy the beach everyone! :D
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