Yesterday was rather interesting. The Hubby, Mom, and I drove up to Quiet Waters Park where the Florida Renaissance Festival is held to pick up our faire and parking passes. Hubby is in one of the reenactment groups, so we all get in for free. I love the faire, the food, the costumes, the historical inaccuracy, it's all fun! The park itself is really peaceful, wide-open and expansive, and full of interesting native wildlife, including the turtle that was stuck in the chain-link fence near the entrance to the park! I spotted her as we were driving in, and we immediately pulled over to help. As I picked her up, I looked around and saw no holes in the fence that she could fit through, so I guessed she must have come from the canal across very busy Powerline Road. It must have been quite a journey! She was fully grown and appeared to be in good shape, but I don't know how long she was stuck in the fence, baking in the hot sun (It was about 80 degrees in Deerfield Beach, and sunny for most of the day). As I held her in the car, she retreated into her shell, just barely peeking out. I silently prayed to Artemis, Mistress of Wild Animals, to help me soothe her and gain her trust. After a few minutes, she poked her head out and began examining all of us, stretching her little neck as far as it would go to look around at these strange creatures who rescued her from the fence. She seemed very calm and relaxed after that. We entered the park and found a secluded spot by the Pirate's encampment on the fairgrounds. There was a ten-foot embankment leading down to the water, which was not easy to traverse in flip-flops while maintaining a firm grasp on a turtle! I thought I was going to do a header right into the water and send the turtle flying through the air! But, I made it down to the sand, and set her down about two feet from the water's edge. She looked back at us one last time, then went straight into the water and disappeared. I felt like I had saved the whole world!
The whole event got me thinking about the movie that just came out, "Big Miracle," about how an entire Alaskan town, the U.S. Army, and the Soviet Union all worked together to free 3 trapped whales from pack-ice, spending millions of dollars in the process and drawing both admiration and criticism from people all over the world. I don't think I will be going to see it, mostly because I just get too emotional during "cute animal" movies, and I don't need to be a quivering wreck for the next week, but I have been reading about the true story of what happened. A lot of people didn't like the idea of intervening in what can be honestly described as a natural occurence. Animals get trapped in ice every day, and die in countless other ways that have nothing to do with human activity. Should we endanger human lives, even those of volunteers, and spend a lot of taxpayer's money to free three animals from a natural event? My answer to that is, would you want to be helped if you were trapped like that, and in very real danger of starving to death, or otherwise meeting an untimely end? Someone came upon these animals and discovered their predicament, and others soon joined in and wanted to help. When you see someone or something suffering because you happened to be in the right place at the right time, how can we even argue over whether or not helping was the right thing to do? Ultimately, the whole event, or non-event, as a book about the rescue deemed it, was about a lot more than just three whales. It was an opportunity. It was a chance to bring out the best in humanity; compassion, teamwork, understanding, and appreciation for all living beings, even in the face of the Cold War! Yes, there were personal, professional, and political motivations driving a lot of the key players in this saga, but that does not detract from the ripple effect the entire event had on the world. It raised awareness about ecology and the environment. It reminded us that we share this world not only with each other, but with other forms of life that are just as complex and precious as we are. It is a story that became a legend, a tale to tell the next generations to illustrate all that is good in our world. Sometimes, we need those things to happen. Sometimes, as human beings, we need the whales, and the turtles, to live.
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