This journal isn't really about me in the strictest sense. Just a head's up. I don't know if journals are supposed to be solely about me, but if they are, then I suppose I'll just break that rule.

It all started off around noon. I had eaten breakfast, and was on the computer familiarizing myself with the events and happenings of the world. The current online-centric world makes it so easy to connect with the entire globe. Today I connected with a specific part of the globe. More specifically, Hollywood. No, not that Hollywood. The one I'm referring to is in the Sunshine State, just above Miami. Now I don't know exactly why or how I ended up there, but when I did, I stayed for quite a while.

The situation was this: a whale mother and her calf had gotten stranded on the beach. On the shore, they had become separated. I was watching a live camera feed of the whole thing from a bird's eye view. Later on I would watch from a helicopter's camera. Soon after the whales got stranded, beachgoers began to converge. No doubt this would be a fantastic tourist opportunity for many, but for the whales, it was a life-threatening situation. It's interesting how people tend to flock towards scenes of mishap and malady. It seems as if daily life's happenings are just not enough. Or perhaps people are drawn towards the suffering of others in order to feel relief in their own.

At any rate, it lifeguards and oceanic specialists were soon on scene, managing to nurse the calf back to water. A jetski soon emerged, agitating the calf back towards its mother. The mother was in worse condition, up further in the sand, barely in the water. Beachgoers readily donated their towels, soaking them with water and laying them on top of the distressed whale, who was churning up the water in agitation. At this point, it seemed as if the objective was just to keep the mother cool until her calf came along.

And come along the calf did. As soon as mother and child were 30 feet apart, the mother began to thrash around until the calf came to her. It was then that the love between whales was evident. The mother and calf bumped heads, and it was apparent that they were relieved to have been rejoined. At at point in time, the whales were believed to be pygmy whales, but were later identified as beaked whales. The dark gray calf and mother were about 5 and 12 feet respectively. It was quite a touching sight. Both whales were struggling in the unknown, as they normally thrive in isolation in the cool, murky depths of the sea. Instead, they were on a hot beach, their light-sensitive skin burning in the summer heat, with humans crowding them around, without room to move. The only thing these two unfortunate mammals had was each other.

The people began to get organized. What was once a messy group of a couple dozen people became a crowd of far larger proportions, held back by recently attached police officers and lifeguards alike. Agents from NOAA and other oceanographic institutes were soon on scene, taking over the life-preserving operation. By this time, the mother whale was completely draped in beach towels, looking like a large, squirming cylindrical quilt. Not 10 feet away, the calf was in a similar situation, with a concerned citizen resolutely holding a large blue beach umbrella with white flowers above.

After a while, a blue tarmac was procured, presumably from one of the oceanographic institutes with the purpose of transporting the whales back out to sea. Lifeguards struggled to get the whale on, and struggled even more to move it. In the end, the mother ended up passing away. The incredible heat from the sun burned her skin, and the struggle to get back with her calf into deeper waters was too much for her to bear. Soon after, researchers put down the calf, as they deemed it would not survive without its mother.

Why? In my eyes, it was human intervention that ultimately killed these poor whales. Instead of trying to move the mother whale immediately, the so-called experts attempted to bring it on to land to move it back into the water, keeping the mother out in the sun for far longer than needed. And the calf was brought up to shore, as it had gone back out to deeper water on its own, but was herded back to shore to be near its mother, who was being restrained from moving by the lifeguards. The intentions of the people on scene were good, but the actions taken were not thought through. And who's judgement was it that the calf be put down? Who can say for certainty that the calf would surely die, and have absolutely no chance of survival? As I shall call them again, the so-called experts who had for all purposes killed its mother put down the calf because they thought it would not survive. They had no right. Perhaps the calf would have died, but perhaps it would have lived. Nature has its own laws, and by those laws should it abide by. The calf should have been released to survive on its own, and try to find other whales, who may have been nearby, as whale are curiously good at tracking each other. If it were to die, it should have died on its own terms, the way nature intended it to be.

I guess my point in all this is that people often have good intentions. However, the intentions can be executed in such a poor fashion that it often causes hinderance and grief to the world, in many different scenarios. This particular instance was a battle for survival by a mother and a child, hindered and failed by the intervention of people believing that they were doing good. When faced with life-or-death situations, or any situation, for that matter, especially when it affects the lives of others, options and variables must be carefully evaluated. Tragedies such as this could be avoided with common sense and a value and respect for life and the natural way of the world. Hopefully this nautical calamity can be a lesson to those who were involved for similar occurrences to be handled better and with more care.

I'm sorry for what, upon further reflection, may have been a sort of rant. However as I was watching helplessly from my computer two thousand miles away, I felt quite moved by the entire situation, and felt for what happened.

On another note, the upcoming day or so will see the arrival of the Perseids meteor shower. I hope you get the chance to see the world work its wonders in the sky. As I'm writing this, the shower is starting, so I wish you all a beautiful night.