On this sad day...

We all will die, that is an immutable fact of life. Yet not all of life’s endings are equal. Is the death of a gnat equal to that of a human? Hardly. What about the death of a chicken or a cow? No, you say. How about that of an orangutan or a gorilla? Close but still not the same. So what is the difference? I submit it is the awareness of self, the ability to contemplate the meaning of life and the inevitability of death, and the desperate desire to prolong the one before facing the other. These are the cognitive abilities that separate your kind from the gnat, the chicken and the cow, and yes, even the orangutan and great ape. If you accept this premise, then know this, every single whale and dolphin that swims freely in the ocean, or is imprisoned in an aquarium, possesses these same mental abilities. And every time one of my kind faces death, either as a direct result of your willful acts, or through your carelessness or indifference, we suffer exactly the same pain, and fear, and sense of desperation that you do as you face your own death. So on this sad day, as you remember the deaths of so many innocent human beings eight years ago, please know that we are no different you and I; we live and die and are both the sadder for it.

Beware the predators of the mind...

We are not so different you and I, at least as far as the predators we face, with one critical difference. First, are the sharks: mindless eating machines that prey on your kind and mine. You face this danger when you enter my world while I live with it every minute of the day; but then again I am far better equipped to deal with this danger than are you, so it balances out. Then there are the killers among our own kinds, mainly Transient Orcas in my case, rapists, murderers, and pedophiles in yours. These perverts of our respective species are evil, no doubt, but at least we know their intentions and we can defend against them. But that is where the similarities end, because in your world there is another kind of predator far more dangerous than all of the others: these are destroyers not of the body, but of the mind. They pass themselves off as champions of free speech, the defenders of freedom itself. They come from the extreme political left or right and approach all those in the middle with equal ferocity, purporting to be the only voice of reason. But do not be fooled, they embody an evil far greater than any predators of the body, because in spewing their righteous bile and unbridled hatred upon the land they divide and destroy the very thing they profess to love, which is society itself. Beware these, the predators of the mind for they are a cancer among your kind.

Oh great and restless sea...

A man of power and prominence in your world died this week. It is for others of your kind to judge whether his achievements outweighed his flaws. For me and my fellow beings, it is enough simply to say that he was a sailor who loved the sea, and in his memory this poem is dedicated.

Hear us oh great and restless sea,
oh wondrous ocean deep and wide.
Your boundaries all beings keep,
your storms and tempests we abide.
Pray let us pass in the days to come,
free from thy wrath, safe on thy tides.
That we may cross thy mighty plains,
and suffer not like those who died.
And in the end, with our journey done,
may we to thee simple sojourners be.
Once here in time and place, then gone,
from thee oh great and restless sea.

God speed, Senator Edward Kennedy. May the fair winds of heaven bring your ship safely home.

Are you interested in going?

There is a planet in another galaxy populated by a civilized race of beings more advanced than us. They have been travelling to earth for hundreds of years. At first they just came to observe but soon they began capturing humans, taking them back to their planet where they keep them in captivity. Recently, thought leaders on their planet have objected to this policy and most trips to earth have stopped but not all. As a result, 80% of all humans in their zoos are now born in captivity but 20% are still provided by capture ships that come to earth on a regular basis. Life in their zoos is safe, clean and comfortable, if somewhat boring. There is good food, excellent medical care, lots of exercise, frequent sex and no financial worries. Are you interested in going? I didn't think so. Oh well, this weekend if you have nothing else to do, why don't you go to your city's aquarium instead and see the dolphins. Might be fun, don't you think?

Living stones on lonely shores.

A nation at war. A stagnant economy. Divisive debates at the highest levels in the land. Life savings slipping away. Homes lost. Dreams fading. Aging parents. Unsettled children. Cancer. Crime. Chaos on cable. We get it. Life is hard. And with all of the above crashing down on you, why should you care about whales and dolphins? Because you are killing them. That’s why. Every single one of them; through the cruelty of the few or the apathy of the many. Either way, they are just as dead or soon will be.
If you don’t do something now all hope for tomorrow will be lost. And when we have all been dead ten thousand years, there will be nothing left to mark our passing except barren lands and empty seas, and in between on lonely shores, living stones will cry out in silence the three words that will serve as our collective epitaph; Arrogance. Intolerance and Stupidity.
If you do care and want to help, let us know. We're waiting...

Lesser people in a lesser world.

Somewhere in the world a dolphin died today. Born at sea, he had spent his youth as a wayfarer of the open waves; riding rhythmic tides and relentless currents; slipping past jagged rocks and over rippled sandy bottoms; flying above thrusting sea mounts and gaping chasms; free on the wind swell. Free. And then one day, all that ended. He was captured and sold to men who imprisoned him at an aquarium, where each day thousands of your kind gaze and gawk at dolphins, as they perform stupid and demeaning tricks, and beg for food. But not this dolphin. He refused. Doomed to a life of unending sadness he simply stopped breathing and died. He was not the first to do so and he will not be the last. Your kind took little notice of his passing and for that you are a lesser people, and this is a lesser world: this endangered blue marble drifting silently through space; a place of terrible beauty and unintended cruelty that you call Earth but whalekind knows as Planet Ocean.