introspection

I am an elementary school teacher and a writer, and, as such, I know a little about a lot.

One day, I wondered, “What would it be like to know a lot about a little? What is one thing I can study, one subject I can pour myself into, so I can become a genius about that one thing?”

I discovered the answer to my questions in whales - who are not only a lot, but are the ‘lottest,’ the biggest creatures to have ever lived in the world.

My wonder of whales began when I was a boy. 

I was an introverted, inquisitive, kind kid (in many ways I still am) and my heart was drawn to whales, who were similar to me in their inquisitiveness and kindness, but different from me in their, well, in their ‘lottness.’

“What would it be like,” I asked myself, “To be friends with whales...to be protected by whales...to be in the peaceful presence of whales?”

I’ve learned that humpback whales hold seals on their chests to protect them from predators. 

Blue whales have hearts the size of Volkswagen Beetles and sing to each other over thousands and thousands of miles. 

Narwhals place the tips of their long, hornlike teeth into the broken teeth of hurting narwhals to be with them and to assuage their pain.

This is what whales do.

This is who whales are.

Around my school, I am now known as the whale genius, not because of my deep and wide knowledge of all things cetacean, but because of my curiosity about them, my love for them and my passion to be like them - protective, present and peaceful in the world.