Shark Baiting

 THE VIDEOS are always impressive, darkly, ominously lurking fear, just what the networks, their corporate masters, and their viewers want.We are transfixed, intrigued. the dorsel fin of a fifteen foot great white must protrude out of the water for effect. At least one clueless dude sun bathingly languishes in a kayak. The variety of nearby recreational boats with pretty people aboard is pure multi culturalism. In the real world, whatever that is, shark attacks happen rarely per capita, but when they happen they happen at least in part because invincible human beings ignore warnings given by people whose job it is to pay attention, issue warnings, and to protect people from sharks, and from a much deadlier danger, themselves. Ever see a rock climber defy death and ask "why"?  Ever been cruisin' along the interstate ad a steady seventy, looked in your rear view mirror at the millennial hottie applying lipstick and texting two feet behind your rear bumper? don't say no. If not, you haven't lived, and in fact you've almost died, probably quite often, without thinking about it. I confess to having eaten at least one cheeseburger and one cheese and bean burrito while allegedly driving. Is it just me, America, or homo sapien sapiens? Are we crazy, or what? Are we torn between two lovers, acting like a fool, trying to decide whether we really are invincible or trying to fulfill a death wish, since we will all die soon anyway? Do we challenge and defy death by swimming with the sharks because we think we will never die, even though we see people all around us dying every day, or because we know we will, and are resigned to it?  The dorsal fin never sinks beneath the water, the terrible triangle circling the oblivious sun bather drowsing in his kayak. Its almost as if the fangy gape mouthed monster understands that she is being watched intently in fearful admiration, and wants to appropriately impress her admirers. She's hungry, and a kill would be nice, urgently expedient. If only one of these long limbed primates would carelessly dangle an arm or a leg in the water. They always do, eventually, stupid things. Its happened before, it will happen again, with enough patience, enough waiting, it happens every time. the perfect moment, the sudden lunge, the desperate helpless thrashing, thick red blood in the water. Patiently, circling...circling...