On Sea Turtles

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It is with the most jubilant of hearts that today, on this Very Blog, I celebrate the sea turtle. This was sparked by my status as a finalist in the SEE Turtles Volunteer Contest, but also by my adoration for sea turtles and my rendezvous with them on multiple occasions. The only word that comes to mind when considering their evolutionary greatness is this:

Gallant. 

They are essentially... Poseidon's discus. Noble and round. They merit Courier style font.

They deserve to be protected by humankind, as they have protected us for centuries from briny villains such as A) the Loch Ness monster, B) the Leviathan, C) pirates. I will prove my case below.

First: If you switch around the letters in the superfamily 'Chelonioidea,' you will receive the following remarkable anagram:

'Hi, Ocean Oldie.'

This is not a coincidence. Indeed, the sea turtle has been around longer than Latin. Sea turtles practically designed all structural aspects of Latin. Sea turtles are very serious business.

Sea turtles keep our oceans safe by eating box jellyfish. Would you eat a box jellyfish? No. And that is why the sea turtle is more impressive than you will ever be.

In fact, the Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped the sea turtle. They were significantly ahead of their time, because the sea turtle is hip. Brilliant. Savvy. They are also efficient, as they can lay 50-200 eggs in thirty minutes. This is an impressive and probably marketable skill for any animal to have.

Sea turtles are the Best Mothers. Period. If on Mother's Day you are not celebrating a sea turtle, you are doing it wrong. This role involves a lot more hauling and hind-flippering than your mother could even have dreamed of, unless your mother is a mermaid. The devotion of a sea turtle to her inordinate number of children is commendable. The presence of sea turtle nesting also improves dune vegetation, which helps to prevent beach erosion. Remember that the next time that you are on summer vacation, you should thank the sea turtles for making your beach a possibility!

Without a doubt, the sea turtle is the stalwart friend of all creatures.

They are the avengers of fish, shellfish, and crustaceans that might otherwise be choked out by sea grass. They are also a friend of mine:

So now, hopefully you understand why the fact that these intelligent creatures are reduced to tons of fisherman by-catch each year is absurd. Is this how you want to see your sea turtles?

(He is not sleeping.)

NO! And you can make a difference!

Check out http://www.seeturtles.org/ to see how you can work with sea turtles, and change fishing and environmental practices to help protect them. Sea turtles are man's best water-friend.

And remember: slow and steady wins the race, but if you are a sea turtle, you are fast and steady. Therefore, you are the champion of all races, regardless of their distance or the other animals involved. Always bet on sea turtles.
 

forgotten beautiful things!

Today's post highlights some things that I think merit remembering because they are lovely, and people forget them. I remembered while traveling. The first is to the left: holiday decorations, even if they may be neglected and seasonally inappropriate. These ornaments were still up (presumably from Christmas) in mid-March in Serbia. That tree is a little tired-looking... but boy, is it trying! And I love that: Absolutely every day is a holiday.  Simple. And it merits a celebration of some kind, regardless of how large or small that celebration ends up being (but hopefully large, given that waking up every morning facilitates every aspect of our accomplishments, and therefore deserves recognition as an Important Thing.) I do think that these celebrations should be intentional, and noted: it is my April 11th resolution to do that enthusiastically and reliably from now on. The next thing: symmetry where you don't expect it. Everyone knows how lovely and fascinatingly ornate a butterfly's wings can be, as well as other examples of natural symmetry. But seemingly unintentional architectural and man-made symmetry can bring people closer to nature in a way that is interesting and at least kind of profound.

It is so easy when living in a city to think of nature as an 'escape.' To forget what a lovely and intricate environment has been constructed and maintained by other people (as well as ourselves, at the very least through tax dollars.) That people Made These Things on Purpose, and presumably that purpose was not to be ugly. I want to start appreciating the beauty in things that are "inorganic." The next  thing is clear water! This is one underrated item, at least in my book. Clear water is fantastic. Swimming in it is pretty much the best, and whenever you are thirsty, you can drink it. I mean, LOOK AT IT. Croatia is the capital of it. It is pretty sweet.

And lastly: vandalism. Good old-fashioned graffiti. The sheer multitude of different emotions expressed on the walls of seemingly every buildings in the Balkans is incredible. This graffiti has the makings of thousands upon thousands of epics. I absolutely adored it. I wish that I could wear the graffiti like I wear clothing. I could write poems of this graffiti for the rest of my life. And how powerful a feeling must be to compel you to write all over the city! Hatred, love, the whole lot of it. That alone is worth traveling to see. Especially when it is this: