Robin Just
In the aftermath of trauma in Boston, a family finds welcome respite in experiencing marine life – a reminder of the ocean’s healing power.
We spend a lot of time focusing on the commodification of the ocean and its resources. There’s a good reason for that: in our world, it’s a language everybody speaks. It’s important for us to ensure that the ocean can continue to provide all of us with those things that our livelihoods depend upon: food, oxygen, income from transport and tourism. But of course that’s not all the ocean has to offer. It gives us something else, something intangible but just as important. It has the ability to soothe and to heal.
In the aftermath of last week’s trauma in Boston, this story by Robin Just tells of how her family found a welcome respite in the magic of experiencing marine life – a touching reminder of the ocean’s therapeutic power.
This story was originally posted on New England Ocean Odyssey on April 22, 2013.
This is not what I planned to talk about on Earth Day this week. But last week was tough. The tragic events at the Boston Marathon last Monday turned into a long and difficult week here in the Boston area. My family and friends are taking this hard.
Yesterday my husband and I were struggling to fill the last day of our kids’ spring break with something resembling a vacation. An errand to drop something off at my office in downtown Boston turned into a last minute trip to the New England Aquarium (which is one of the 6 million reasons why I love living here, by the way). My husband and I followed the kids to the entrance in a fog, then found ourselves getting drawn in to the sea life exhibits all around us.
Shark egg case with visible silhouette of embryo. Photo by Mike Fowler.
We watched our children become totally engaged with the shark and ray touch tank. We saw a bamboo shark laying eggs, wrapping the large egg cases around a pole. When we found out there was a display with live shark eggs, and you could see the baby shark moving around inside, we forgot everything else for a while. You can see one of the eggs, an epaulette shark, above. It is so beautiful.
These egg cases are sometimes called “mermaid purses.” I have seen them on the beach before, but I’d never seen one with a shark in it. It seemed like a miracle to see that tiny little shark just getting its start in the world.
Photo by Robin Just.
We also saw the giant Pacific octopus playing with a big green ball (I know the picture is blurry, but it’s still pretty cool). It looked like it had been chewing green gum and blew a huge bubble. We watched the sea turtles in their temporary home in the penguin exhibit, and saw the sea lions sporting and frolicking like puppies in their pool.
I’m not going to say we feel completely better, but for a couple of hours we forgot everything except for the cool stuff we got to see. My youngest son even got to hug a giant sea turtle. Since it was the last day of spring break and we’d had a tough week, we decided to have ice cream for dinner. In celebration of Earth Day, mine was green.
Photo by Mike Fowler.
Earth Day is not just about terra firma. The ocean provides way more habitable space on the planet than the land does. It should be called Planet Ocean (as one of my ocean heroes, I can’t remember which one, has said). It provides us with around half of the air we breathe, regulates our climate, and gives so many of us the food on our plates. And yesterday, for my family, the ocean provided a welcome distraction from a very sad time.
As we move on with our lives, let’s all try and remember what special things we have to love, to take care of, and to enjoy. And make sure to take some time to check out a live shark egg if you have the chance. It might make you feel better about the world.
