Space

Alina Ali

Harrison

29 January 2020

On a summer day at the beach with my feet sinking in the sand and the tide inching forward and foaming at the shore, I look out at the seemingly endless ocean as the deep and calming blue approaches the horizon miles off in the distance. When I think of space, I think of a place that is unexplored and carries a sense of illusion and I am brought back to these memories of the ocean. 

The ocean is a mystery to all, except those who inhabit it. When I hear the seagulls squawking above and the smell of the salty seawater as I approach the tide, I can’t help but think of the unknown that resides under the blue waves. There is some that has been discovered, but most has not and will not ever be uncovered. How deep is the seafloor? What animal resides there? These are still a question mark - there is no answer - much like the ocean itself. 

There are theories of the origin of the world just as there are theories of the depths of the ocean. But that is all they are - theories. If there were answers to all the ocean’s questions, it would no longer be a meaningful space because the illusion is taken away. 

I remember a beach memory when I was nine and I went scuba-diving the first time. It was a scorching hot day and the sand was burning my feet as I ran down the shore. I could not  see anything below the surface as the glare from the radiant sun bounced off the waves and blinded me as I tried to look beneath. 

As I jumped in, I was taken aback by the surprising sights that I saw. I saw fish inches away from me that I could reach and touch the  scaly fins of. I saw coral that was made of colors that mere paint will never replicate. I looked above and I saw the blurred vision of the sky and the sun through the rippling waves of the surface. I had seen the ocean from looking down, but never from looking up and it was a sight that couldn’t be paralleled anywhere else. What was even more amazing was the sound, or the lack thereof. It was utterly silent, and my focus was on the sights that surrounded me. I was merely a few feet below the surface and I was exposed to a mystery I never encountered before. If 5 feet was a mystery, what would 10,000 feet be? In one word - unimaginable. Now I do have some partial “exploration” of the ocean, but what I really discovered is there is so much that is yet to be explored. 

Before, I would only see the ocean as a place where I spent summers or where I built sand castles, but seeing the mysterious side to it  gave me a greater appreciation for it than I had before. The beauty of the ocean doesn’t lie in its deep blue color, the animals that reside in it, or the gorgeous sunset photos, but in its heart that is unexplored.