Ode to Flipper.

Unbelievable!  Tonight we watched the 3rd of the 3 movies we got back on Saturday night.  It's title..."The Cove".  I honestly had no idea what I was about to watch!  Seems I am on track for being a glutton for punishment this past few days.  Nor did I have any conception that the show I loved as a child, "Flipper" would have such a shameful and impactful effect on me tonight.  By the way, we knew her as Flipper, but her real name as a dolphin in captivity was Kathy.  Apparently dolphins and whales, unlike humans, have voluntary breathing systems.  Simply put, they make a conscious effort to breath.  Kathy quite literally committed suicide while in captivity.  She literally dove into her beloved trainers arms, looked him in the eyes, took a last breath and then just died in his arms.  As I listened to this tonight, I did well up.  Had I known then what I know now.  All I can say is that as children we are so naive and innocent.  Had enough yet?  No!?  By all means, read on.

"The Cove" was a documentary...not a movie....   It was a true and very upsetting film on the mindless slaughter of roughly 23,000 dolphins each year in Taiji, Japan.  Before tonight I thought that we as humans were beyond this type of barbary.  There are so many things that in our day to day lives we are completely unaware of.  And what is an even sadder truth, is that we as humans are destroying ourselves in the process.  Among other issues with this senseless scenario, dolphin meat contains extremely high toxic levels of mercury and the meat is sold, disguised as anything other than dolphin meat, to the unaware and uninformed citizens of Japan, and was even used as the primary staple for school lunches to Japanese children.  At the time of this film, many Japanese didn't even know about what was happening in their own country.....much like most Americans have no idea what they are being fed.   Doesn't mean much to you?  Have you ever seen the deformities to babies born with mercury poisoning???

Yes, after contemplating my lunch at Subway today, and hardly able to drive by Mc Donalds without my guts wrenching, now I will sleep with the saddened knowledge of this atrocity.  And it literally all started with "Flipper"....no joke, I am as serious as a heart attack!!  Add another flick to your list from 'Greg's Picks' for one of those nights you need an eye opening dose of reality, and just what is going on around you and your little bubble of life.  "The Cove".  If you don't want to watch the movie, at least check out this link and see what on earth it is I am babbling about. 

The Cove | TakePart Social Action Network: Controversial Issues, Activism, Environmental, Human Rights, Political News
Or the actual movie website....
The Cove: Academy Award® Nominee.

 In the meantime, fear not, this blog will not become a posting ground for environmentalism, much like I try to contain political views.  Frankly, these past two posts have exhausted me!  However, these are things that I think are pretty important, or at very least have impacted me to the extent that I have become cognizant and more aware of what is happening in this world that is just all wrong!  If you have ever watched 'Whale Wars' on the Discovery channel, this takes it to the next level, and has dealt another blow to the dwindling respect I have for the Japanese government.  We owe it to ourselves, our bodies and the environment we live in and will hand over to our kids and their kids.  Again, only "we" can make the changes needed!  It's not 'Avatar' or 'Star Wars', but 'The Cove' really should be watched.