On the eve of yet another ‘Shark Week‘, it goes without saying that our toothy counterparts deserve a bit of mention here on ‘A New Life’.

I picked up the following graphic via Facebook, courtesy the Florida Museum of Natural History, which provides some useful data regarding the geographic distribution of shark attacks in recently recorded history (since late 1500’s or so).

https://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/statistics/GAttack/World.htm

While some might say, ‘geez – over a thousand attacks in the US alone’, naturally  we must put this in context and then quickly realize that the odds of choking to death on your lunch are far greater than being killed by a shark. We’ve heard all of those comparisons before, ad nauseum, and in my opinion we have to take a much different perspective than the ‘us versus them’ perspective.

In short, they (the sharks) are by far the superior species – surviving millions of years in their current state of evolution – and are by far the dominant apex predator here on our Blue Planet. We, on the other hand, are only at the infantile stages of our species’ evolution, being only a couple hundred thousand years into the game. They, rightfully so, defend their territory when they feel threatened, are provoked, or feel as though another large animal has entered into its territory – I have personally experienced this shark behavioral ‘attitude’. We, humans, do the exact same thing, and I suppose it is only human nature to be so selfish as to think other animals do not have the same rights that we do. We are all citizens of the same planet, yes? And share the same space?

In that light, when the day comes where we take our next evolutionary steps to the life aquatic, it most certainly has to be with the notion of mutual respect, appreciation, and with a Gaia or worldy balance on the front of our minds. When we all succeed, we all succeed. When one of us fails or is persecuted, we all struggle and ultimately collectively fail. In the end, we are not alone, and it is an absolute fact that the ruler of the sea rules all life on this planet and will guide our ongoing sustainability and success. We can do it together, with our sharky counterparts, or we all stand to fail miserably.

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