The Tide

A while back I took one of my seventh grade rowing crews down to the boat. The tide was particularly high.  I pointed it out to them, how normally the tide doesn't come up so far.  See how big the South End looks right now.

One of my young charges piped up “Is that why it’s not all, like, Jack Sparrow like last week?”  He was deadly earnest. 

It took a minute for me to translate and respond.  Jack Sparrow is, of course, the captain in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. He is surrounded, or opposed by a wild array of slimy sea creatures.  The only way this young boy from the coast of Maine could find to describe low tide was to liken it to a film.  He had personally spent so little of his time by the shore that tide was something spectacular.

Of course that troubles me.  But rather than worry about who’s to blame and what’s to be done I think I’ll just take pride in the fact that, at least in Rockland schools, kids row as a normal part of their schooling.  They may be seeing, or noticing the tide for the first time, but at least they are seeing it.