A Day Under the Sea

      Today, I spent a day snorkeling at Hollover Bay on St. John's Island in the Caribbean.  My immediate family members and I are staying on the north side of the island, but today, we traveled over to the "hippie" side of the island, the south side. As we drove to the south beach, we passed by several donkeys and goats, one of which came right up to Dad and me, begging for food.  The south side has a more laid back crowd, so the donkeys are used to getting fed.  Their most generous providers are patrons and the owners of our favorite smoothie store, who frequently toss them banana peels.  David the donkey mistook my dad's yellow key chain for a banana peel, but even when we did not feed him, he still wanted to be our friend.  I continued to experience the more calm and worry free life of animals and coral when I watched them move around in the ocean.  The beauty of snorkel gear is that it exposes me to a whole new world under the sea.  Not only are the fish rainbow-colored and beautiful, but they also seem blissfully happy.  Of course, unless a shark is around, all they have to worry about is getting enough food for the day.  It makes me wonder if humans worry too much and if we have both a blessing and a curse by being the dominant species.  The whole "keeping up with the Joneses" attitude doesn't seem to apply to animals, and in fact, they seem to travel along in groups.  (Humans do too, but we choose our friends more so by common interests than on whether or not we look exactly alike). Many things that matter to humans, such as having enough money, having the so-called perfect job, having the significant other whose picture you can post on facebook, and being invited to enough parties in a given weekend do not seem to phase animals.  If they do, it is on a much more simplistic level.  Perhaps I need to simplify my own life and worry more about how happy I am at my job and how well I am serving others more so than why I don't make as much money as many of my college and MA educated counterparts.  And maybe it doesn't really matter when you get married as long as you do eventually, and as long as you have a good flock of friends to keep you company in the meantime.  All in all, the matters that worry the human heart are more trivial than we sometimes think.  We can gripe about how unfair life is sometimes, or we can enjoy the view both over and under the sea while we have the opportunity.