5:45am. strong south winds. town is blown out. north shore came up. buoy is 11′ 14 seconds. big surf by the end of the day. heavy rain, lighting, thunder, flash flood warnings. not a really nice day in hawaii but there are waves so get out there…. see ya….
pro surfer dave rastovich, wife, and a really famous american actress hayden panettiere were just in taiji, japan protesting the dolphin killings. i was watching the national news tonight and it’s all over the internet. so many people around the world who didn’t know about it, knows now. gosh, this is such a touchy subject. something that i wanted to get to when i had time to write how i felt. i still don’t have time to write much about it now but all i can say is that there are two sides of the story. yeah, the video looked sick. so would video of filipinos killing little dogs and deep frying them in the philippines, and so would video of chinese cuting open the heads of live monkeys and eating their brains, and so would video of indonesians putting a knife in the heart of a baby pig and sticking a rod up its ass and cooking it. sitting at home here in america and judging what people do in other countries is wrong. but i give dave rastovich and the protesters credit for going there and seeing it with their own eyes. that’s the only way to get to the bottom. don’t get me wrong, it’s sad and i don’t agree with what they do in taiji. BUT, it goes deeper than just simply killing dolphins. it’s been hundreds and hundreds of years of culture in taiji. it’s a way of their life and it’s easier to understand the other side if you actually talk to local japanese fishermen. i know so many japanese fishermen and when i ask them about it, they act as if nothing’s wrong. and to them, nothing is wrong. ask they guys in america who slaughter cows and they will tell you the same thing. i can understand what people in different countries do because it’s a part of their culture and part of making a living. pretty much part of their everyday lives. for example, hawaiians use to kill turtles and eat them all the time. when i was a kid, i ate turtle once a week. i’ve seen the heads being cut off and the shells being ripped off right in front of me. it was part of the hawaiian culture. was that right? maybe not to the outside world, but it was something so normal to hawaiians here. everybody loves turtles, dolphins, whales, dogs, monkeys, and yes, pigs too. there are people in the world that won’t agree what some people do in other countries, but that’s their way of life. so after visiting taiji for myself, it’s not the dolphin killings your fighting to change, it’s hundreds and hundreds of years of japanese culture, and more important, the fishermans way of living. and to me, that’s a challenge….
don’t get me wrong, i love dolphins. if i didn’t travel around the world and seen what saw on tv last night about the dolphin killings, i would be pissed. but i’ve been traveling for years so i can understand the different cultures and way people live. i love the people, the culture, and everything about japan. i have so many japanese friends that are stuck in between this issue too. it’s really complicated and it’s so complicated that i don’t even know what i’m writing now. i know both sides to this controversary and for right now, i’m neutral. all i know is that for now, i won’t support any kind of dolphins or whales in captivity. so no more seaworld for me. where do you think those dolphins and whales come from? that’s a little dent, but a start….
**once again, this is a very touchy subject and i’m just trying to express my feeling. and please don’t send me any hate mail. i got one last time about this subject and it was from somebody who didn’t know the whole story. i don’t think he even had a passport. by traveling, i learned that in every situation, before you judge something or somebody, listen to both sides of the story and come to your conclusion. i have much more to say about this touchy subject but wait until i can sit down and really think about it. it’s a lot more complicated than you think. i guess what i’m trying to say is that everybody in america will probably see the video on tv or the internet. before making judgement, think about both sides before you come to your conclusion….
