A whale of a tale

So by now everyone has heard about the unfortunate circumstances that led to the death of a trainer at Seaworld in Orlando. If you are living under a rock or at the bottom of the ocean you can read about it here or watch the news story here. To make a long story short; On Wednesday a killer whale grabbed a trainer (Dawn Brancheau, 40) with its mouth and thrashed her around a bit and drowned her. Her official cause of death will likely be listed as multiple traumatic injuries and drowning. The whale known as Tilicum or Telly is a nearly 30-year-old male and weighs 12,300 pounds. A number of park visitors witnessed the incident. Now people are saying the whale should be euthanized. I mean are they serious?

This is a wild animal and I am almost certain it wasn't aware that it was killing the trainer. While I can appreciate places like zoos and theme parks wanting to educate the general public and give them access to animals they may not normally see, we have to recognize that at the end of the day these are business. All businesses have one thing in common - the bottom line. I am very sorry for Dawn Brancheau's family and it's unfortunate that she's dead but this was not some vicious attack on a person by another person. A wild animal was being held in captivity and that's the reason this happened. When was the last time you heard about something like this happening at sea? And now people are saying the animal should be put down. Last I checked whales and humans do not have the same mental capabilities, if that were the case Shamu would be Governor of California and not Arnold Schwarzenegger. Come to think of it California might have been better off if Shamu were elected governor. Seriously though you cannot hold an animal accountable for attacks on humans the same you would hold a human accountable. Similarly, the story involving Travis the Chimp early last year is another sad case of folks making wild creatures part of the family. People need to stop trying to domesticate & train wild animals.

Bottom line, leave these animals be - in their natural habitat - and these incidents wouldn't occur. Common sense should tell you that someone 150 pounds shouldn't be playing with an animal that almost 10 times their size. We tell older children not to be so rough when playing with younger children because they can easily hurt them because the younger children are so much smaller. Why wouldn't we apply these same principles to everyday life and interaction between animals and humans? I am well aware that there had been previous incidents involving this whale and those are unfortunate cases too but people need to leave these animals alone, the only time I can see animals being held in captivity is if they are endangered and attempts are being made to repopulate the species. This was not the case with Telly, he was an attraction being used to make money for Seaworld.

I remember watching Free Willy back in the day and thought the whale was adorable but I didn't make any plans to see it up close or decide to train orcas. Even if the animal doesn't intend to kill someone, it's massive size alone is enough crush someone or drown them. In Seaworld's defense they do take very good care of the animals and their employees but no one can gauge how or when a wild animal is going to react in a situation.

My point is simply this: wild animals should remain in the wild!

Arrivederci

A Lent Well Spent

Usually I only blog about religion a few times of the year and this is one of them. Well, it’s Ash Wednesday and you know what that means. It’s the first day of Lent. The period beginning the day after Mardi Gras leading up to Easter, the holiest day on the Christian Calendar. It represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. Lent is extremely important to me and I don’t look at it as a huge task or obligatory undertaking. I see it as a time to bring me closer to Christ by giving up something (or things) that I normally can’t seem to go without - this year it’s all meat and alcohol -, through prayer and reflection.

It seems of late that Lent has become trendy and people completely forget about the religious and spiritual aspect of the Lenten Season. People are “taking up things instead of giving them up”. While I think that is wonderful people are taking the time to do something during Lent I don’t agree with people doing something “good” for 6 weeks and then stopping it. I look at every day of my life as a chance to better myself and those around me in some sort of way.  Religious significance of Lent is being replaced with a social trend. I’m glad Jesus didn’t look at the sacrifice that he made for humanity as a trend because he could have easily changed his mind and I don’t even want to imagine the world if he hadn’t made that great sacrifice.

When Lent is over you should reflect upon the period and see some personal growth. I reflect daily during Lent and pray for the continued strength to remain on the fast for the entire period. It may seem like a huge struggle at times but compared with the struggle of Christ it truly pales in comparison. So whether you’re giving something up or taking something up; remember the true significance of this important time.

A Lent well spent is a lent spent praying, fasting and encouraging others.

Arrivederci

Why Valentine's Day Sucks

So it's February 14th, again. Another Valentines Day, another reminder that I'm still single but unlike some people I'm not miserable. I'm single by choice not by force and I celebrate every February 14th but I celebrate it as Anti-Valentine's Day. I spend time a week or 2 ahead of the big day selecting images and crafting verse to make the perfect card.

It's not that I'm against the theme of Valentine's Day. I'm against the day itself. I'm all for loving people and letting them know it. But I'm about doing it and showing it everyday through words and actions not one day a year through cheap cards and candy.

Valentine's Day sucks because it's not about love it's about dollars and cents. It's commercialized romance, it's prepacked hearts instead of words from the heart. People are spending money on worthless baubles instead spending time creating priceless memories showing people how much they appreciate them. It's become more about Pre Fixe menus at overpriced restaurants than spending quality time with that special someone.

I know so many people - men and women - that cheat on their spouses/significant others. They lie to them, hide money from them and God knows what else. But on this one day of the year they head to Hallmark and pick up a card, swing on over to See's Candy to grab a box of chocolate and head to the flower shop to buy roses that are marked up 300% and will die in a week. These deeds and a few I loves you's and people think everything is grand forgetting that the rest of the time it's horrid!

Why not do something for the person you love on June 12th? Just because it's not a day society requires you to do anything. The important thing about relationships is what happens the other 364 days of the year not just on Valentine's Day.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

We Are The World 25 For Haiti

So, last night the 25^th Anniversary edition of the hit We are the World debuted during the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The good thing about this song/video is that proceeds are going toward the Haitian Earthquake relief efforts. It was nice to see an updated rendition with many of today's stars but it just didn't have the same feeling as the original did for me. This one was just a little bit to Hollywood but it's for a good cause so I won't knock it. The vocals for the most part are good, I wouldn't have let Justin Bieber do a solo at all but that's just me. Quincy Jones is a hit maker so maybe he saw something that I didn't. Also, I know Miley Cyrus is popular but her voice didn't do it for me either.

All in all I hope it moves people to continue giving to help the Haitian people during this tragedy and beyond. They will need our support for decades to come.

The Saints of New Orleans – Not just a team but saviours of a city.

When most fans see their team playing in the Super Bowl they're totally excited, but not New Orleans Saints fans. We were more than excited, we were over the moon - and still are and may remain there until next Super Bowl. Why you ask? Because, the Saints were the Bad News Bears of pro football. You remember the movie with Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal about a misfit little league team? Disclaimer: In no way am I comparing the amazing Sean Payton to lazy ass Coach Buttermaker though.

The Saints were for the most part the joke of the NFL, the poster children for the term “you could always be worse off than you are”. To the millions of Saints fans in Louisiana and across the country they epitomize the spirit of the city they represent. Things may not always be ideal but you wake up every day and do your best. After years of being the joke of the league, the Saints are the kings of the NFL today, victors, and Super Bowl champions.

When New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina (most folks in New Orleans simply refer to it as The Storm) in 2005 we didn’t know if we would even have a city not to mention a football team. Now 4 ½ years later we have both and a Super Bowl championship to go along with it. The Saints don’t just play in New Orleans, they live there, they’re part of the city, and they give back to the city.

The season was amazing, some call it miraculous and refer to our quarterback Drew Brees as Breesus. I don't know how many people were praying, how many were rubbing lucky rabbit and chicken feet and I don't know how many people went down to the deep recesses of the bayou to visit voodoo priestesses, but what I do know is that something was at work in south Florida on behalf of the Saints. The season that began with the suicide of Drew's mother culminated in a sea of confetti, shouts and tears. It couldn't have been written better by Shakespeare.

If you haven't been to Louisiana, specifically New Orleans, you can't begin to understand the closeness of team and city. It's a special bond that I don't think any other franchise has with it's city, the closest in mind would be Green Bay and the Packers but even their bond isn't the same. There's something different about the Saints and New Orleans. You can feel it in the air when the Saints are playing at home or away, there's just a different feel. There's a calmness to the city, when the Saints are playing everything stops in New Orleans, everyone's on the same page. This team rallied the city and the city did the same for the team.
The only thing that can be said about these New Orleans Saints is that they are AMAZING! They went undefeated for most of the regular season.

These Saints have redeemed our city and their franchise. Drew Brees, who was counted out years ago, gave a stellar performance against the Colts and Peyton Manning. Manning is usually referred to as the greatest quarterback in the league but last night he and his Colts were no match for Brees and the Saints. Even Garrett Hartley - who was in my book the vilest Saint after missing a kick in the game against Tampa back in December - proved himself over and over. The rest of the game was like something out of a movie right down to Tracy Porters interception return for a 74 yard touchdown. The naysayers were finally shut up because the Saints, that’s right those Saints, that team from New Orleans are #1 not just in New Orleans but in the World.

The 2009 Saints will be canonized in the city of New Orleans for generations to come. Champagne bottles were popped, Gatorade dumped on folks and tears flowed like the waters that once drowned our city. Nine days before Mardi Gras and almost 5 years after The Storm, New Orleans has reason to celebrate. The Saints went marching in as underdogs and came marching out as champions. So until someone comes and knocks us down, we are the champions and although folks from south Louisiana usually don’t brag, we’ve waited a long time for this so we’ve earned these bragging rights.

The city of New Orleans is going to party from now until Mardi Gras; we have a city that is flourishing again and a football team that’s on top. Everyone who didn’t know what “Who Dat” meant on Sunday morning knew what it meant on Sunday night. If they had never seen a 2nd line or heard Iko Iko they have seen and heard now. Laissez les bons temps rouler

Everyone that knows me well, knows how much I love New Orleans and the Saints (especially #88 – Jeremy Shockey), so here’s my tribute to this group of Saints.

This is for a city that was nearly wiped off the map by floods and torrential rains
A city whose team played so bad they were once known as the Aints
Just in case you missed it, here’s the entire story
Of how the New Orleans Saints came to bask in this Super Bowl Glory
So back in September those Lions came to The Dome
We scored 45 to their 27 and sent them back to their Detroit home
A week later it was off to Philly to face those Eagles, and boy what a game
We were already beating them pretty badly then Sharper’s 97 yard TD really put them to shame
Then we were off to Buffalo to face the Bills
A victory that I’m sure made all their fans ill
The next game we faced another team from New York, the Jet’s came to town
We did what we’d done in our previous games and shut them down
Thankfully the next week we had a bye, time to reflect on the four games in a row we’d won
On October 18 we faced the Giants and beat’em by 21
Then it was off to Miami to face the Dolphins, we lost to them in a pre-season game
We left Miami with a “W”, making sure the Dolphins would remember the Saints
That’s about the time that people started noticing that these weren’t the same old Saints
We’d already won 6 games in a row, no longer called the Aints
It was now time for us to face those Dirty Birds
We plucked the feathers from the Falcons and we didn’t even have to score in the 3rd
After that we took a quick trip to St.Louis and faced the Rams - it was a really close game
But we treated them like we did everyone else and the results were the same.
There was more talk, were the Saints really 9 & 0?
Could they finally make it to the Super Bowl, Say it ain’t so
November 22, we were back in Florida but this time in Tampa Bay
The final score: 38-7 there’s really nothing more to say
Next we faced the Patriots; the New England boys took a trip down south
Our victory over them took the words out of everyone’s mouth.
The Saints were still undefeated, 11 & 0 just to be clear
We hadn’t won 11 games in about 17 years
The next game would be played in the cold weather of Washington, D.C.
The Redskins scored 30, but the Saints scored 33
We headed to Atlanta to face the dirty birds again
The result was the same as before, Saints would win
That’s where the regular season victories would end
We lost to Dallas and Tampa Bay and when we faced Carolina we only scored 10
The Who Dat Nation wasn’t worried the Saints were headed to post season games
The Cardinals and Vikings both fell to us and went home in shame
On January 24th we became the NFC champs and were closer to our goal
The New Orleans Saints were finally headed to their first Super Bowl
Making it to the big game wasn’t enough, we had to win
On Sunday, February 7, that’s just what those Saints did.
The game had been hyped - Manning and the Colts can’t be beat
They didn’t know that those boys from the bayou had something up their sleeves
When the game started the Colts were the first team to score
The redeemed Garret Hartley gave the Saints 6 on the board
Brees threw to Thomas giving the Saints their first TD
But then the Colts scored and they now had 17
Here comes Garrett Hartley again with another perfect kick
A touchdown by Shockey and 2 point pass to Moore & those Colts fans were sick.
It was 24-17 and the Saints were in the lead
Tracy Porter intercepted and that was all we would need.
Counted out more than they’ve ever been counted in, but the Saints fought on
And the Lombardi trophy is headed to my Louisiana home.

The Saints, My New Orleans Saints, the team from that city that almost wasn’t anymore are victorious. God Bless the Saints and God Bless the city of New Orleans.