Roy's Postcards: 1985/10/28

Inscription:

Dear Leonard,
I saw this whale card tonight, and I thought about you. The man who painted this picture also painted a giant mural on a building here in Honolulu. It is a picture of whales in the ocean. We can go see it when you come to Hawaii. You sure are a whale of a boy. I love you.
Da.

Postcard back:

HUMPBACK WHALE FAMILY
Then God said, "Let the waters teem with fish and other life...." So God created great whales, and every sort of fish.... And God looked at them with pleasure, and blessed them all. "Multiply and fill the oceans," He told them. Genesis 1:20-22

The Humpback Whales are now protected in the warm, tropical waters where they come to mate, give birth and rear their young, because we have chosen to help them. Safe within shallow bays and lagoons, there is a close intimacy within the family group.

The calf is well cared for by the mother, who stays close beside it to give comfort and assurance. She will guide, protect, and instruct her baby while it grows and gains strength for the arduous migration to their summer Arctic feeding grounds.

Close by, looms an escort whale, possibly the father, there to assist, if needed. There is a strong and loving relationship between these magnificent creatures.

From the beginning, the family unit has been part of God's plan for the continuance of life on this planet. There yet remains much work to be done so that the Humpback families can continue to survive.

Whales deserve to live. Let's help them live forever.

--Denise Vroom

Whales Forever: "A series of original oil paintings by Wyland dedicated to the great whales forever."

Leonard's comments:

First off, I absolutely love this guy Wyland's life-size whale murals. He's like Banksy, except awesome, and with whales. I've seen a couple of these murals (Despite the implicit promise here, I don't remember seeing this one) and they're incredible. I mean paintings on cards are one thing, but this guy takes the side of a building and turns it into a whale.

And if the suspiciously Mormon-sounding religious mumbo-jumbo on this card were a quote from Wyland himself rather than Denise Vroom, who I've never heard of, I'd probably let it pass without comment. In fact, I'm still going to let it pass largely without comment, because the mumbo-jumbo pulls back from family-values moralizing at just the right moment.

Check it out: "Close by, looms an escort whale, possibly the father..." Thank you, Denise Vroom, for accepting the existence of nontraditional family arrangements among humpback whales. And thank you, Wyland, for beautiful paintings of whales.

See also: hawaii best-of

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