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I've had the pleasure of swimming with dolphins on many occasions,
and find them to be truly generous beings who treat people with
great tenderness and affection. They also love to play with us,
as the following story attests.
It was during one of my trips to Bimini, in the Bahamas. It's
a beautiful place, and I take groups there to bask in the sacred
springs and swim with the dolphins there. On this day the dolphins
were extremely playful, and they were having a tag game with
a piece of seaweed. They were passing it back and forth between
them as they zoomed all around us.
I was watching with
all the attention of a kid in front of Sunday cartoons. I was
glued to the action. All of a sudden they swam up and dropped
the seaweed in front of me. I was shocked, they were inviting
me to play! Needing no second invitation, I grabbed it
(taking in only a small mouthful of water), and took off. I looked
over my shoulder and sure enough, they were right behind me.
I swam as hard and as fast as I could, arms and legs thrashing
the water. What I lacked in grace I made up for in splash. I
imagine I looked like a toddler to them, barely making headway
but with a lot of heart. When I was winded, which was pretty
quick at that speed, I dove down and released the seaweed.
Wham! They grabbed it right back and were off. They chased
each other, passing it from mouth to flipper to tail, zooming
in and out of sight. (see photos) I was all grins, huffing and
puffing as I caught my breath. Then they brought it over and
dropped it in front of me again! I was the kid who's invited
by the big guys to get off the bleachers and join in the game.
I kicked off my imaginary crutches ("the dolphins don't want to
play with me"), grabbed that seaweed and swam my best. After
another minute of splashing and thrashing, I dove down, released it, and
bobbed back to the surface, winded and content to watch.
 The
game went on, and the seaweed was passed back and forth between us
several more times. Each time they dropped it in front of me
I felt a physical shock, for it challenged an old belief that I was
doomed to be left out of the game. I swear these dolphins knew what they
were doing. They brought me face to face with that
old belief, and their behavior proved it wrong again and again.
A profound
sense of gratitude swept over me. Sure, it looked like a simple game of
tag, but for me it was truly a holy interaction. I felt deeply honored
they would include me in their game. Dolphins are so incredibly loving
and generous to us.
A year later during one of my talks, I was sharing this story when I realized that
I never saw the dolphins take the seaweed from each other. They
always waited for it to be released before grabbing it. It was
what we as kids called 'fair play,' where everyone
gets a turn, no matter your ability. What a great way to play! |
