One In A Thousand Make It

Jul 19, 2023

Sometimes epiphanies come to us in the most ordinary of moments.

I’m standing on the shoreline with all of the other tourists to watch a sea turtle release in the Baja of Mexico. Waiting, I google these turtles, the Olive Ridley sea turtles. I read how they are endangered like most sea turtles and that about one in a thousand actually make it to adulthood. Mom comes to the shore, lays her eggs, in this case, 81 of them, and then shimmies back to the surf, never to be seen by the kids again. These two facts stun me as I watch the babies, only eight hours old being carefully placed on the sand by the hatchery expert.

Apparently, these baby sea turtles are drawn to their oceanic womb by the lightness of the white capped waves. They instinctively go toward the light. As I watch them desperately fight their way toward the sea and into their almost certain doom, I’m sad for them but then another feeling takes over…

I am mesmerized by their insatiable instinct towards danger at all odds to survive.

And then I realize that we humans are no different. We see the exuberance of the whiteness in the world just like the sea turtles, and we strap on our proverbial shells and go toward the light.

We are also propelled to engage, as if by some primal instinct, with the same force that causes the turtles to the sea after hatching in the sand. In short, something is guiding our aim beyond ourselves. Despite knowing we all will die, we step out to create our own fairy tale, the one of the ‘story of us’, full well knowing that no great fairy tale is without danger.

We come here with a will to life, every day heading toward the waves to start anew. We are in a constant cycle of birth, death and regeneration. Watching this miraculous event, I am in awe of our courage to live each and every day.

A will to life, a calling, a destiny.

Call it what you will, it is dangerous, but I wouldn’t be standing on that shoreline in a state of awe if it weren’t for the lowest moments in my life. From that, you really realize how fragile this world is. Hardships ranging from betrayal, to loss, heartbreak and devastation. We all have them, no one gets out unscathed.

So when you come back from something like that, you don’t let anything stop you. You begin to have strength in the face of grief, pain and danger. That is to me, the real definition of courage.

One in a thousand make it.

And yes, there are many complexities and shortcomings to us. I am reminded of this while watching this miraculous event to hear one woman say to another, “I hate my golf pro”, not even watching what was unfolding in front of them. These young extremely entitled women made me wonder, how much time do I waste complaining? To hang on to relationships, friendships and situations when the better choice is to let go? Letting go toward the sea of change, to release into the water and flow with the current, not against it. Maybe even the purpose of certain people in our lives is to actually teach us to let go.

To stand witness to this messy, heartbreakingly beautiful, impermanent life is to be human. To be strong enough to be our own creature, carrying the weight of our lives on our backs. Do you feel you have dried up oceans where wonder used to live?

Tell yourself your own fairy tale, the scary and wonderous story of your life, and the water will come to meet you at the shore, casting you forever back out to the sea and back again. Into the heart of things.

Put yourself in a position that demands you to go straight toward the crashing waves. Answer to the call only you were put here to do. After all, nothing can guarantee safe passage in this life time anyway.

Hurling through the sky heading home I look down and recognize the exact beach of the turtle release. Everything looks and feels so small and far away. Even the sadness I came here with now feels small and almost darling.

Forever touched by a sea turtle. I’m alive.

Nancy