The Giving Hands

This post is written for the “Save the Ocean” group-writing project by Rinnah. She writes about anything and everything that strikes her fancy over at It’s all about the spin…

“Goodbye world, and thanks for all the fish!”

Oh wait. Those were the words of the dolphins in The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, not the whales. But funny quotes and cult movies aside, seriously, all it takes is just one small catastrophe to wipe out the gentle giants of the deep blue sea. And that’s not impossible to imagine, seeing as how global warming is affecting the weather and tides nowadays.

I seriously hope that before it’s too late, I will have the opportunity to go on a whale-watching trip - even if it’s the touristy thing where tons of people pack onboard a little boat to take their home videos and pictures. You know why? Because I want to see the wonder of God’s creation up close and personal even if it means smelling ‘em!

Image credit: Spending an entire day looking for a tail by Epzibah.

However, it is not my wish to see the whales exploited as just another spot on the travel itinerary by having tons of day-trippers come by the beach and leave their rubbish behind or recklessly drop their refuse into the sea. Nor for them to ’stress’ the whales out and potentially injuring them by having the motorized boats go too close all for the sake of ‘one more shot’. Neither should the whales be seen as an exotic food (hello Japanese people?) and be hunted onto the verge of extinction.

Whale watching trips should be educational by letting people learn more about the gentle creature and its laidback lifestyle. It should be about preserving the whale’s natural habitat as much as possible so that people will be able to see them in the wild a few generations down the line and not in aquariums or zoos. It should be about learning to respect the individual rights of the whale as a living creature that is deserving of us giving them the space to continue to exist.

Otherwise, there will be a day when our children will say, “Whales? What’s that?” I certainly hope that never happens in my time.

January 2008 is “Save the Ocean” month here at The Giving Hands. Click here for more information on how you too, can save our oceans, and remember to subscribe to The Giving Hands for your daily updates!