It is a very human tendency to personalize the inanimate environment. We put spirits everywhere. All cultures. All human history. A distant cousin drowned in the ocean at our summer place. It seemed "weird" because this area was our old friend. On a sunny day, it seems so peaceful with the waves rhythmically arriving. How could it kill someone? One would then have thoughts that I don't want to go back there. The ocean turned against us. All irrational, but human. We rebel against the notion of an indifferent world. (It is actually beyond indifferent: that verbal construction is animating it in some way) _____________________________________ It is water; it has a temperature; it has waves. You can't breath it. It does not care because it can't care. I go places that occasionally seem like Disneyland in their "perfection". But it is not Disneyland. That rock was not placed there to create a nice surfing wave. That sea lion is not there to have his picture taken. It something goes wrong, they have not let down some part of a bargain. I love the ocean. Preserving it and the creatures that live there is a high priority for me. But the feeling is not reciprocated. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Mar 15 2007 - 19:25:21 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:23 PDT