Sea World As an Exercise in Mindfulness

Kennin and I petting a dolphin at Sea World.

Sea World was by far my favorite place in the world when I was young. A place where you can watch these beautiful whales leap out of the water and interact with humans as if they were as friendly as my dog was unfathomable. I loved all the shows in which human situations are acted out through sea animals, such as the mystery show starring a walrus.

As a teenager and college student, I went back to Sea World to ride the roller coasters, sit in the shark exhibit for an hour, and feel like a kid again. Over the Labor Day weekend, however, I revisited Sea World as a mentor for a five year old and two year old child. This entire summer has heavily consisted of me getting over my fear of children by interacting with my brother's girlfriend's children, and I've been amazed at just how curious and interested they are in the wonders of the world.

Kennin, the aforementioned five year old who watched Shark Week with me, loves sharks. She asked me to teach her about all the fish around us, so I took her hand and started pointing out sharks, talking about their behavior and having her identify them when they swam by. Sure enough, she started to remember them by their features and even responded to another visitor's spoken out loud thought as to what kind of shark had the giant teeth. We walked around the aquarium and looked at different fish, and she was constantly listening to everything I said, watching the fish, and asking things like, "Are they friends?" or "Where does he live?" Her being engaged in stopping and watching the fish instead of passing by inspired other kids and their parents to do the same; at some points, I was nearly lecturing a group of visitors about what they were really looking at in the tanks.

I don't think a lot of people really contemplate what it is they are experiencing when they look at a fish tank in an aquarium, feed a dolphin at Sea World or watch a Shamu show. This mindfulness makes trips to Sea World not only fun, but it helps to better grasp just how beautiful the world really is and how great it is that companies like Sea World use their resources to save wild animals and show the public what they share the planet with. Perhaps it is mindfulness that allows us to have that curiosity we value in children. If we can constantly remind our selves to really think about where we are, who we are, what we are doing and what we are looking at, we can see the world as brightly as we used to when we were kids.