The Editor’s Desk

Some Elbow Room, Please

The Editor’s Desk by Samir Shukla

During an early November trip to the Florida Keys, while wading in knee-deep blue water, I gazed at the schools of tiny fish hovering around my legs, quickly swimming away at the slightest movement I made. In the distance I spotted a floppy pelican dive into the water and emerge with a mouth full of fish and salty water. I thought of the billions and billions, maybe trillions, of creatures lurking in the seas and bodies of waters around the globe. Of course, I’m only talking about those visible to our eyes, forget about the microscopic life forms. It is an unfathomable number.

I waded a little further down the beach toward a clutter of black mangroves and another school of fish swam around my ankles and dispersed like shooting stars when I took a step forward.

The sun warmed my skin and the palm trees swayed in the sweet ocean breeze while I tried to wrap may brain around the potential numbers of swimming and crawling life forms in the water, just within my line of sight. So many creatures, so many life forms. Such a fragile ecosystem.

A speeding boat disturbed the water and left a wake of waves that dissipated into ripples as they approached me. The fish are used to it.

A few days later, after returning to a much cooler Charlotte, I turned the radio dial to the local NPR station and heard that the United Nations had announced the imminent arrival of the eighth billion human to our little blue globe.

Editor’s Desk continued on page 94