There once was a young Hawaiian monk seal named Monte who lived on the sandy beaches of French Frigate Shoals. Since Monte was a monk seal, he would spend each day resting on the beach and basking in the sun, as all monk seals do. But Monte, being a young and adventurous seal, soon grew bored of basking and wished to do other things. One day he saw a pod of spinner dolphins playing, laughing and spinning above the waves.
Monte was fascinated by all the fun they were having and asked if he could join them. "You can't spin Monte" said Sally the spinner dolphin, "only spinner dolphins spin, monk seals bask in the sun!" But Monte was determined and so the spinner dolphins agreed to teach him how to spin. And so Monte tried to spin and tried harder, but he just couldn't spin.
Sally was right, he'd never be able to spin. Monte suddenly wished he was a spinner dolphin instead of a monk seal. "Monte, be proud of who you are." Sally told him. "And appreciate what you have. Mother nature gave each of us different strengths and weaknesses. So make the best of what you have instead of wishing for what you lack.
After all, there are things that you can do that I'll never enjoy." "Like what?" Monte replied. " Like basking in the sun." Sally answered. "And to rest safely on land undisturbed is a luxury I'll never know." Monte didn't understand what she meant, but before he could ask her Sally was gone far beneath the waves. Just then Monte heard an amazing sound and saw Harry the humpback singing a glorious song. "Wow! That was great, Harry!" Monte exclaimed. "Where'd you learn to sing like that?" Harry answered with a full grand voice. "I didn't LEARN to sing! I was BORN to sing! I'M a MALE humpback WHALE! That's just what we do." Monte was very impressed and was eager to learn to sing like Harry. "Silly Monte, you can't sing, you're a monk seal! EVERYONE knows… MALE HUMPBACKS sing, and monk seals BASK in the sun." But Monte was determine to sing and so Harry decided to teach him.
And so Monte tried to sing and tried harder, but he would never be able to sing. Monte now wished he was a humpback, but Harry replied "There's no sense complaining, be PROUD of who you are and appreciate what you have. After all you can bask in the sun, and to rest safely on land…" "I know, is a luxury you'll never know. Whatever THAT means!" Monte interrupted disappointedly. And before he knew it, Harry was off to Alaska for his dinner. Monte didn't understand why humpbacks troubled themselves to travel back and forth between Hawai'i and Alaska, and he began to think being a humpback wasn't all that great after all. Suddenly Sally the spinner dolphin swam quickly by, she was very distressed. Some of her cousins had gotten caught by mistake in a tuna net. With Sally so upset and Monte trying to console her, they didn't even notice the dangers approaching. They were about to be caught by an evil ghost net and also a hungry tiger shark!
Monte and Sally swam as fast as they could and luckily escaped. All the excitement proved too much for Monte and now he looked forward to resting on the beach and to simply bask in the sand. And at that moment he finally realized what Sally and Harry had meant by how lucky he was to be a monk seal who could rest safely on land. And so, for the first time in his life Monte was happy to be a monk seal and he was especially happy to finally rest and bask in the sun!
|
