Take A Break

 Insights

I had planned on presenting the perfectly profound insight for this series finale. One that befitted a Socratic conversation with evaluative questions. Perhaps a Cartesian thought, or maybe a Sartreian existential idea of authenticity.

Rocky basks in the sunset next to a seawall
of basalt rocks. Photo: V.E.V. Waikiki Beach,
April 21, 2021 

But three days ago, I chanced upon Rocky.

When I saw her seven-and-a-half foot long and 500-pound body with its light-colored belly and gray lanugo fur-covered back plopped on the sand behind our Waikiki condo...

... I realized that all this blog needed was this simple yet prudent insight.

No day is so hard it can't be fixed with a nap.

Rocky is a Hawaiian monk seal, an ilio-holo-i-ka-uaua, which means "dog running the rough waters."

       

The thick fold of skin around her neck which resembles the hood of a monk's robe gives this web-footed aquatic mammal the monicker monk seal.

Rocky is famous. Some four years ago, she had a pup on this very same spot. Since then, she has come back yearly, staying for days to molt on the beach.

Just look at her. Undisturbed. Literally laid-back. For her and would-be Rockys, I offer this accolade in haiku form.*

Snatch winks when you must,

Tune into the soul-soothing

Rhythm of the waves.

Betwixt sky above,

Sand below, stillness within,

Sink in oblivion.

Like flowing waters,

Let peace flow in the ocean

Of your restless soul.

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* - Haiku: a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables in three lines of five, seven and five