Courage

I'd like to start my post today with an inspirational quote I found yesterday while at work.

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear".

I feel that this quote is very important when deciding whether one would like to travel to Taiji to help the dolphins. Of course there are risks. But we must look beyond ourselves at  the larger picture. In the past, 23,000 dolphins have been caught in one season. Many of these dolphins are sold to marine parks for unnecessary human entertainment. The rest of these dolphins are brutally and again, unnecessarily slaughtered for what some like to call "food".

It is certainly smart to act cautious when making a decision such as this, but we should not let fear stand between us as a barrier when given the opportunity to save lives. This blog is about my journey to Taiji, the trials and tribulations that I will encounter while raising funds, staying positive, and while arriving in Japan and dealing with the authorities there. But even though this is an account of my experiences, I would like to encourage others to take the leap and join me in Taiji.

A tool that I find effective is to place our own lives on the same level as theirs. We are not more important, nor less, but equal. Their lives are just as important as ours, and we must care for them as we do ourselves.

                                                                   (Steve Bloom)

For the Dolphins,
Tarah