Take Me Deeper Than My Feet Could Ever Wander

There are people in the world who have never seen the sea. Only heard of its beauty. They wonder about the concept. Even imagine what a world like that could be like.

You yourself wondered. Even believed it to be true.

So you go, wanting to see it for yourself. And when you arrive there, standing on the shoreline, marveling at the possibility that was laid out before you, it steals your breath and fills your lungs all at once.

Then you place your feet in the water. Feeling the cool on your toes. The warm sand driving you forward into the crashing waves.

Some choose to stay there right at the border between land and sea. Looking off in the distance at the horizon. Some wondering how far it truly goes. Some pretending that it stops with the end of their vision. Too afraid to consider what it would mean if it travelled beyond their understanding.

You choose to venture outward. The murky waves conceal a world of mystery beneath the surface, and you travel as far as you can on your own two feet. But now you must choose. Do you turn back? Only travelling in the places that you remain in control. Or do you dive down beneath the surface to discover just how deep the waters run?

Some travel across the surface on boats. Looking over the side and imagining what could exist there. Sometimes they see fish and dolphins jump above the surface just for a moment before returning to the other world beneath. Those who travel this way believe they know the contents of the sea. They say the waves are blue and that is enough for them. The distance they seem to have travelled seems impressive. But they are still observing from the outside. They do not know the cool of the water or the spray of the sea. They have no idea how much information they are missing.

They continue on the surface and report back to you everything they think they know. But a place this big… waters this deep… the treasures they must hold cannot be contained by the human eye.

You stand at the line watching those around you skim the surface for miles or those who reach the place you are at and turn around. Too afraid of the call of the ocean.

Then others take the leap. They dive in and disappear beneath the surface. Those who turn away believe them to be lost forever. You cannot see nor are you truly sure that they will ever resurface.

But you long for deeper waters. For the mysteries to be revealed. So, you take the plunge.

You are in over your head, but you can see clearly what was invisible to you before. Hundreds of fish swim around you in every color. The beauty of the plants astounds you.

You continue forward and deeper. There is an excitement to what you have just found. You understand why no one else returned, for who would want to leave this place?

But as you swim forward the waters begin to pull you this way and that. You begin to feel the pressure beating down on you.

And then you see a creature not of beauty, but one with teeth and jaws that can open so wide and tear you apart.

Suddenly you long for the shore where it was safe.

You swim to the surface but there is no turning back. The shore is nowhere to be seen. And though you are afraid and missing the safety you left behind, you know deep down you do not want to go back to before you knew what was below.

Staying on the surface of the open sea proves to be far more dangerous.

People in boats are trying to pull you out of the water. Trying to tell you about the fish that swim below and that you can learn everything you need from the safety of the boat.

But how do you explain a sea turtle to someone who has never seen one? What can you say that would clarify the oddities that lie beneath the waves?

You cannot. But the voices of the world above try to convince you that you are better off leaving it all behind. When you consider the monsters beneath the murky waters, you almost believe them.

You must choose. You can get out of the waters and into the boat, turning away from everything you know about what is below. Or you can dive down deep again. But at least when you are beneath the surface, you can see what is coming, instead of waiting for something to drag you under.

You turn away from the boats. And begin to dive down once again.

But the tides pull you every which way. You try to fight them, until you discover they have a purpose. You learn how to ride the currents allowing them to have control. The dangers of the water still linger, but you become so wrapped up in where the waves are taking you, that they do not steal away from the joy you feel. Its only when you start focusing on them that you begin to fight the tide. The weight of the sea still pushes down on you, taking you deeper and deeper below. But the tides never leave you and you allow them to show you every part of their world. They keep you under, but they also carry you all the way through.