Tuesday, March 15, 2011

W is for a Whale of a Tale!


I'm sort of cheating by repeating a post from a few weeks ago, but I just couldn't resist since we are studying the Letter W this week! (And, I'm lazy) Hope you enjoy!

The Big Boss (School Principal) sends out a memo every Monday with a recap of the past week, upcoming events, etc. There is usually an inspirational message somewhere within. This past week, she included this picture, and the following story. I found both to be so very amazing and wanted to share them with you.

...The Whale... If you read a recent front page story of the San Francisco Chronicle, you would have read about a female humpback whale that 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, a line tugging in her mouth. A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farallon Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group 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 untangled her. 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, and nudged them, pushed them gently around as she was thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth said her eyes were following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.

For me, this is a gentle reminder that it's okay to get involved sometimes, especially when someone could use a little help.

Thank you for stopping by my offering for Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday. Please click on the logo below to read some really interesting and diverse "W" topics!

Jenny Matlock

13 comments:

Judie said...

This is a wonderfully sweet story! Thank you for sharing it with us again.

Rocky Mountain Woman said...

This brought tears to my eyes..

I lived in FL for many years and while I lived there I had a boat. One of the most memorable times of my life was running the boat out in the ocean and having the pilot whales run alongside, in front of and over the bow of the boat. They were playing with us and talking to us. I'll never forget those days and how wonderful those animals were!

Mary said...

I heard about this...it is such a feel-good story, you couldn't help but be touched by it! Love the included photo :-)

Lola said...

Great story!

Have a great weekend & look forward to *seeing* you again next time,

LOLA:)

Btw Alphabe-Thursday

EG CameraGirl said...

That's such a touching story! I have tears in my eyes.

Jeanie said...

What a touching story. You can repeat anything you want as far as I'm concerned....I can't remember anything :)

Unknown said...

It is great to hear how the whale gave thanks.

Jenny said...

This was a wondrous tale.

It brought tears to my eyes. What a poignant and perfect reminder that it is never OK to turn away.

OK, seriously. Louis Armstrong just started singing "What a wonderful world" so now I am totally crying.

Seriously. What a touching link to Alphabe-Thursday's letter "W".

A++++++++++++++++++

Linda Bob Grifins Korbetis Hall said...

love the title,
lovely story.

21 Wits said...

Something this good deserves to be repeated, It's great stuff!

Theresa Plas said...

Wonderful happy ending!!! Just imagining what an honor it would be to experience this...

Pondside said...

Well, I missed it the first time, so I'm glad you re-posted.

Personalized Sketches and Sentiments said...

Love this story! (Thank you for sharing...I missed this the first time too, so like "Pondside", I'm happy you reposted it).

Blessings & Aloha!
And what a great photo to post with this.