A Turtle Story
Mar 19th, 2008 by gibsondirect
In his book, Dangerous Wonder, Mike Yaconelli tells the story of a woman, Barbara Taylor, spending her holidays at a beach.
It was the time of year when loggerhead turtles made their way to the beach to lay their eggs. One evening, Barbara observed a female turtle coming ashore and laying her eggs. The next morning she returned to where she had last observed the female turtle and was shocked to discover the turtle had apparently lost her bearings and headed further inland into the sand dunes instead of returning to the ocean. Following the tracks, she soon found the struggling turtle. Realizing the danger, she acted quickly and contacted a park ranger.
Soon a jeep roared up, a park ranger jumped out and flipped the turtle on its back. Wrapping her front legs with chains and the other end of the chains to the Jeep’s trailer hitch, he raced off towards the ocean with the turtle in tow. However, this was no Sunday drive. The female turtle was dragged through the sand, her mouth filling with sand, her head bent back. The ranger stopped at the water’s edge, unhooked the turtle and flipped her over. Nothing happened at first, but then the water began to wash over her. Slowly, she moved out into the ocean until she was free of the beach and out of sight.
Barbara Taylor remarked, “Watching her swim slowly away and remembering her nightmare ride through the dunes, I noticed that sometimes it is hard to tell whether you are being killed or being saved by the hands that turn your life upside down.”
