A Different Side to Ric

Meeting Richard O’Barry on Tuesday at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel was amazing.

As a friend put it, “You seem star struck.”

And how could I not be?

I’ve watched the Cove – that marvelous award-winning documentary. (If you haven’t done so, you should too. Click here to watch Part 1. You can work your way through Part 10 from the links there.)

And anyone who has been reading the newspaper these last few days would have heard of Ric’s achievements, his support for ACRES campaign against Resorts World Sentosa (RWS)’s plans to house 25 bottlenose dolphins, as well as the many labels tagged to him:

Ric O’Barry – activist

Ric O’Barry – former Flipper trainer

Ric O’Barry – dolphin hero

How do you not get awed by that?

But I’m pretty sure, most of you would never have heard of this one:

Ric O’Barry – father to a 6 year old girl

While people were enraptured with the grand labels of status, it was this different and unexpected side of Ric, that I saw at the event, which left me deep in thought questioning his other motivations behind his campaigning against dolphin slaughter, dolphin captivity and dolphinariums.

He was not just a four-decade-old activist. He was a dad; a role model to his daughter, and he was trying his best to teach her proper values in life.

For a moment, he seemed more human that way.

He was teaching a child to have a heart in a world devoid of one.

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Kids learn from mimicking behaviour. None more than from their parents.

While we try to be good parents to our children by buying them the latest prams and expensive toys, providing them with the best education and medical care, and by clothing them in OshKosh B’Gosh-priced kiddy clothes, our children are busy observing us and learning how to interact with the world around them.

They pick up what we say, how we say it, and what we do - our actions, our mannerisms, our habits. Their sponge-like brain is program to do just that at their infant and toddler stage. Absorb. Everything.

If you're a parent of two, you might remember the older sibling "spanking" the younger for misbehaving in imitation of how you had disciplined him or her before.

This is also how their values are formed. 

Teaching a child to be polite and considerate to their elders, will have little value if we are rude or disrespectful in turn.

We are role models to them. Therefore, we should not just preach values to them, but live it. Lead by example, as they say.

Values make up a person's character. They determine temperament, faith, and attitude - the core of an individual. And cores are hard to change.

So you see why it’s essential to inculcate good values while your child is still young.

Ric O'Barry, too, recognizes that "we're living in a time where we need to teach our children well."

But by patronizing dolphin shows at places like RWS, Ric questions, "What are we teaching our children?" 

Dolphin shows are nothing but "spectacles of dominance." It teaches that "dominance is good; dominance is right." This is not a good value to instill in our child.

Instead, here are 4 life-values Ric O’Barry would love your children to learn from you. I will let the man speak for himself where he has supplied the words with minimal comments.

Enjoy!

1) Control Your Desires

A journalist asked Ric O'Barry this question: If dolphins weren't here, all of these kids...would never get to see dolphins.

This was his reply, "That's true. And the reality is, you can't always get what we want...The very same children are never going to see a snow leopard. Does this mean we have to go to the Himalayas and drag a snow leopard into the room for them? Or do we teach our children to control their desires? I think that's the most important thing in saving this planet - controlling our desires. That's the key to it.” 

Couldn't have said it better. Bravo!

2) Individuals Can Make a Difference

“There are a lot of children who want [the release of the dolphins] to happen. And I'm rooting for them. I'm really doing this for them because I know about the environmental problem facing us and the children are the only hope.

So if these children have a win, if they win this campaign and the dolphins go back, that will encourage them to take on bigger issues.

We won! Look what we did. Now lets do something else.

But if we lose, they're just gonna walk away and think, you can't win. These big multi-international companies...there's nothing you can do about it. And they're going to give up. So it's about that for me. I wanna see these kids win."

3) It’s OK to Make Mistakes. Learn From It and Correct It.

"The decision makers at Resorts World have children. They teach their children to speak the truth. and when you make a mistake, stand up and say I made a mistake. You know, accidents happen and that's alright. 

Resorts World made a mistake capturing dolphins from the wild. And they can fix it...It's not too late to fix it."

4) Respect for Life

Reading the last paragraph from a book he wrote, entitled Behind the Dolphin Smile, sums up his view.

"In a world where so much that is wild and free has already been lost to us we must leave these beautiful mammals free to swim as they will and must. They do us no harm and wish us none, and we should let them alone."

Amen to that.

In conclusion, the key to being a good parent is to be a good role model ourselves.

Remember, in the words of Ric O'Barry:

"Our children are watching us all the time."

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For those interested in watching highlights of the actual event, click here for Part 1, courtesy of Razor TV, SPH. You can work your way to Part 9 from the links there.

Thanks again for reading!

Stay Green!

Cheers,

~Kerry

If We Could Be Heroes

We all have our heroes in life. People we look up to and admire. People whom we want to emulate.

For some of us, our hero could be our father or mother, a relative, someone we know or a complete stranger to us; perhaps an athlete or a movie star; even a saint.

Heroes are important people in our lives.

They can give us hope when we need it most and even a reason to cheer. They inspire us and make us want to strive for more.

They influence our views. They shape our morals, our values. They add colour to our perception of life.

Like signposts, heroes give directions to those who need it. They point the way to something - something that we value; something that we agree with.

Like a mirror, they reflect a part of our inner-selves back at us, enamoring us by our own vanity, and draw us towards them.

They resemble a message that we embrace.

A message that we live by.

Love: think Mother Theresa; maybe Casablanca

Freedom: Nelson Mandela; Aung San Suu Kyi

Peace: Mahatma Gandhi; John Lennon

Solidarity: Pope John Paul II

Wealth: Warren Buffett; Donald Trump

Fun: Adam Sandler

Non-conformity: Lady Gaga; Pink

Change: Obama (although I wonder about this)

Challenging authority: Just about any rock star

The world needs heroes.

Generation in, generation out, we continue to look for them.

But why search when you could be one?

Yes, you.

You too, can be a hero. A hero to someone. You could be that signpost; the mirror that reflects the message of someone’s life.

Heroes aren’t exclusive to the realms of celebrities and media.

Even ordinary people can be heroes to others.

All you have to do is fight for something you believe in. Whole heartedly. No effort sparing. And aim to make the change you seek happen.

It doesn’t have to be huge. It doesn’t have to be life-changing. It just has to make a difference to somebody.

It has happened many times over. (Refer to the list above.)

My money’s on that it will continue many times more.

Think about it.

"We could be heroes for just one day." ~ Wallflowers, Heroes.

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EVENT:

To meet a hero is always an honour.

To spend time in a hero’s presence? Priceless (so the Mastercard slogan goes).

This Tuesday, the 4^th of October, you’ll have your chance to do just that!

Marine mammal specialist, Ric O’Barry, of the Earth Island Institute, will be giving a talk at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel from 7.30pm to 9.30pm. (Click here to see the map.)

In a show of support for ACRES World’s Saddest Dolphins campaign against Resort Worlds Sentosa holding 25 dolphins captive for their marine park plans, he will be sharing about his work to end dolphin exploitation around the world.

Ric O’Barry is best known for his award-winning documentary entitled The Cove, an exposé documentary on the secretive annual dolphin massacre in Taiji, Japan. (To watch it, click here.)

An ex-trainer of dolphins for the original Flipper series, Ric O’Barry had a change of heart ever since he witness a dolphin commit suicide in his arms from stress. Since then, Ric O’Barry has worked to end dolphin captivity and exploitation for the past four decades.

For those interested, send an email to denise@acres.org.sg to reserve your seat.

For more details, click here.
For the official website of the Cove, click here.
To read more about Ric O'Barry, click here.

And for those who want to relax to some music, click here for Wallflower's Heroes.

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Thanks for reading!

Stay Green!

Cheers,

~Kerry