Kiosk - Nature of the Unknown (page 4)

Nature of the Unknown
(conclusion)

The shark-human relationship is drenched in fear. Sharks occupy a realm alien to humans, the ocean. We step into their world for brief moments and most of the time come out unharmed. Rarely, a human will be attacked by a shark, and the attack comes as a vicious surprise not only to the victim, but also to the victim’s community. The way the attack happens -- not just the attack itself -- scares us too. It is stealthy: victims never see the shark until it is upon them, and then the shark leaves within seconds of the attack. We are not afraid so much of the animals themselves as we are of their mysterious nature. Fear of the unknown drives us to persecute the shark. Instead of persecuting them, we should be studying them. In gaining an understanding, the unknown becomes the known, the uncontrollable becomes the controllable, and our fear disappears.

The shadow of sharks is the shadow of death, and they call forth dim ultimate fears. Yet there is something holy in their silence.

-Blue Meridian, Peter Matthiessen

The shark escaped the blood-red water and the pack of animals that had gathered around its victim. The taste and feel of the animal was different from anything the shark had ever bitten before. Instinct told the shark to leave the situation. With mighty strokes of its colossal tail, the caudal fin propelled the shark through the sea. Maybe it swam north towards the Farallon Islands west of San Francisco, maybe south towards the fur seal colonies of Guadalupe Island west of Baja California, or maybe into the deep ocean and the infinite, dark abyss.

Sources

• Ellis, Richard and John E. McCosker. Great White Shark. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.

• Benchley, Peter. Jaws. New York: Bantam, 1974.

• Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick. New York: Vintage Books, 1991.

• Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952.

• Sze, Arthur. The Redshifting Web: Poems 1970-1998. Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 1998.

• Matthiessen, Peter. Blue Meridian: The Search for the Great White Shark. New York: Random House, 1971.