I read an amazing article about a 50-ton female humpback whale ensnared in crab trap lines off the Farallon Islands near the coast of San Francisco. A crab fisherman was the first to see the distressed whale, who was described as, “hog-tied” because she had so many crab lines wrapped around her from head to tail. He was the one who started a relay of phone calls to help save the whale. 

It’s apparently dangerous to save a whale because to go into the water puts the divers at tremendous risk, but this particular group of responders from fisherman to master divers from the Marine Mammal Center knew it was the only answer. One diver was right near the whale’s eye and the whale continued to blink, as they were cutting lines, as if to say, “Thank you!” After about an hour, the divers were able to free this gentle giant, but something funny happened. She didn’t swim off to freedom! She started doing dives, frolicking among the divers, staying right with them. As the divers said, “We left the whale—the whale did not leave us.”

Someone in your midst (and mine) is this entangled whale. The are struggling and we see it, but we have done nothing to help. Not intentionally, per se. It’s one of those, “They’ll figure it out,” kind of situations. But the whale, wasn’t going to figure it out. She ended up needing help from a friend, many friends, apparently. Look around you. Who is the “entangled whale” in your life? Sometimes it’s simply one phone call that makes a difference. Be the crab fisherman who, 30 miles off shore, decided to help this struggling whale even though he knew that he alone could not save her. One phone call started everything. 

Let’s GO! WE GOT THIS!
Beth