We have traveled around a good part of the world and most of it has been aboard cruise ships that ply the seas and visit ports of call hither and yon.  This is an activity that has taken place ever since a distant ancestor looked out to the huge expanse of water at the edge of his existence and thought up the idea of sitting on a log and kicking and splashing with arms to move to the other edge of the sea.

I have often thought about the whitecaps that seem to accompany our ship along with the occasional dolphins and flying fish.  Theirs’ is a world quite different from ours and we mutually exist on this planet but with the tacit understanding that we are at the top of the food chain.  This disquieting fact may upset some people who think food comes from markets and sometimes is even prepared and cooked for us from the provender of the sea.

But those distant whitecaps on far horizons have given me much to think about.  Where and why did they start to cap waves?  Is their source under the sea or from actions caused by us, the top animal of the planet?  This certainly has given me much to think about and I often wonder what would happen if we were to finally destroy the world without the compliance of the master of the universe who put all this into motion.  We have that power, you know.  The stories and imaginations of our kind include the end of life as well as the pictures of happy and free utopias where all life is respected and protected for that is the right thing to do.

Think about the tsunamis where some little ripple under the sea a volcano is trying to be born. It can send those waves capped with white tremendous distances to wipe out cities and thinking people who should have thought twice about setting up households at the edge of the sea. This is not the same as splashing in the surf and waves on white beaches where the privileged go to have “fun”.

We live in Florida which has the reputation of being the Sunshine State but also the history of repeated hurricanes that tear down what we sometimes have Jerry build us. Our matchstick houses cannot withstand storms that sweep across our state and sometimes turn up the coast to ravage the northern part of the Bay of Mexico.  We have never learned. Our entrepreneurs and capitalists cannot resist building where we should leave nature alone to protect and delight us with creatures that our building will crowd out and lead to extinction what cannot be replaced.

Whitecaps on distant horizons hold a fascination for they come from exotic places and where people who are not so different than us live interesting lives and have interesting thoughts.  As those waves capped with white approach they are like messages that need us to think about and answer.