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Chomp!
By Scott Harrup | June 20, 2008
On this day in 1975, Universal Studios released Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster film Jaws. Summer swimming hasn’t been the same since.
I was only 10, and our family didn’t go to movies, so I didn’t see Jaws until years later on VHS. But even at that later date and with a somewhat jaded perspective on all things Hollywood, the images stuck with me.
In 1996 I spent a week in El Salvador reporting on an outreach to that nation’s children. The mission headquarters was walking distance from a deep lake filling an ancient volcano. I could wade into the water up to my waist in about two steps. Swim out another 10 feet or so, and I was floating over an abyss.
Anything could be down there …
I could almost hear those familiar repeated notes. Dah-dah … dah-dah … dah-dah, dah-dah, dah-dah, dah-dah …
Peter Benchley wrote the novel Jaws and the film’s screenplay and gained international fame for creating a fabled monster. But Benchley later promoted serious research into shark behavior and became an activist for shark preservation.
The fact is, sharks kill very few people. According to the Florida Museum of Natural History, a partner in the International Shark Attack File, there were only “112 alleged incidents of shark-human interaction occurring worldwide in 2007. Upon review, 71 of these incidents represented confirmed cases of unprovoked shark attack on humans.”
Think of it. Millions of swimmers hitting the beaches around the world, and in an entire year there are just a few dozen shark attacks. There was only one fatality among them.
When you turn the equation around, sharks are overharvested at an alarming rate. Many are caught just for their fins—which are used in the well-known delicacy of shark-fin soup—and dumped back into the ocean to die. Like any other dangerous animal in nature, it may seem that sharks’ absence would be a good thing, but they play a vital role in ocean life.
And yet, you could probably scream “Shark!” at a swimming pool and hear more than a few gasps of terror.
In some ways, I believe, our media-influenced fear of sharks illustrates our unfounded fears of some people. That’s not to suggest a deep-sea swim within chomping distance of a great white is a good idea or that convicted child molesters should be allowed to babysit your children. But we need to look past race, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, economic status — anything that would create a false wall of prejudice or self-righteousness — and see the infinite value God places on every human being.
When it comes to people, I believe we need to go one step further. We need to serve others in the love of Christ even when there’s every chance we’ll be “bitten.”
Topics: Books and Films |