How a Humpback Whale’s Experience Can Help Us Seniors

A female hump back whale had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso and a line tugging in her mouth. A fisherman spotted her just east of the Faralon Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her – a very dangerous proposition. One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer. They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, nudged them, and pushed gently, thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth, says her eye was following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.

We seniors can be very limited on what we can do, just like the female humpback whale in this story. How can this story help us seniors to contribute to our community, our country and this world from applying the lessons provided us by this humpback whale?

The whale respectfully watched all of the movements of the diver that cut the rope out of her mouth and the diver said that the experience was so positive that he will never be the same. What does that mean? It means that the diver was more encouraged to help others and to be the person that he is capable of being. When the whale was free of all the lines, she swam in joyous circles and then returned and nudged each of them, gently, to show her gratitude. Some of the divers said that it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. We seniors can provide our helpers a wonderful experience and have the joy of giving to others. The whale could only watch and nudge them to show her gratitude. We seniors can verbally express our gratitude, shake their hand or hug them, show our gratitude with a song or a gift and smile from ear to ear to show our happiness.

May you, and all those you love, be so fortunate… To be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you and may you always know the joy of

giving and receiving gratitude.

Olde John Croan