‘Whale Bubbles’ Cross an Ocean of Understanding
by Pat BoyEs, Washington State 4-H Program Director
Anniversaries are wonderful occasions! Certainly any excuse for a party is wonderful but when that anniversary spans a 40 year partnership the celebration has to be 40 times grander! Hence, S4-H is thrilled to be conducting its 2011 Fall Coordinator’s Conference in Washington D.C. in honor of 40 years of building global citizens through person to person exchanges fostering cultural competency. We expect to catch up with old friends and make new ones when we all gather together at the Fall Coordinator’s Conference. And, of course, when friends gather we have to share stories and reminisce.
As I reflect about my first international experience, I have to go way back to a trip I took to the Long Beach Peninsula on the Washington coast over 50 years ago. Early one drizzly, wet Washington morning not too long after sunrise, I was strolling along the beach at the water’s edge where waves were crashing onto the long, sandy shore. On the wide, flat sand I could see ‘blue bubbles’ dancing in the shallow surf. What could these ‘bubbles’ be? I slogged into the surf, without rolling up my pant legs, and began to chase the ‘bubbles’—capturing one---- and held it in amazement. It was clear glass and a beautiful shade of turquoise as it shimmered in the rain drops. My seven-year-old mind was boggled--- what could this thing be? As I carried it up from the beach and collected about 30 pounds of sand on each pant leg---- I determined that it had to be a bubble blown by a whale. As I presented my great find back to my parents at the rented holiday cabin they didn’t know what it was either but they were quite certain that whales did not blow glass bubbles. Later that day, I asked the cabin’s owner if he had ever seen whale bubbles in the surf. He told me that I had, indeed, not found a whale bubble. But, rather, I had found a glass float from a Japanese fishing net. In the days prior to plastic and foam, Japanese nets were held afloat by hand-blown glass balls. You might think that I was disappointed to learn that I had not discovered a whale bubble but, merely, a utilitarian net float. But you’d be very wrong. I was fascinated that glass could be made to float and let alone hold up a net. But what really intrigued me was that it had floated across thousands of miles of ocean, perhaps taking years, and I had a gift sent to me all the way from Japan! It boggled my young mind. I still have that glass float from so long ago.
It still astonishes me that 40 years ago, LABO and S4-H began our long history together. From a fledging start in Washington and Idaho in 1972, with 149 delegates, 17 chaperones and 4 staff spread out over the two states, the first LABO/S4-H Exchange has grown into a partnership thriving four decades later and adding state after state to the exchange inventory. Those first delegates, who are now over 50 years old, have assumed leading roles in business, communities and government service. Wherever their career paths have taken them, I have no doubt that their exchange experience has influenced both their personal and professional lives. The footsteps of 40 years ago have built the pathway we walk today. I am delighted to be one of the travelers on our journey of world citizenship! CONGRATLUATIONS on 40 years of promoting peace and mutual understanding!
Posted May 2011
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