Our Hearts Go Out

Recently the Dharma staff had a company outing to sail out of San Francisco harbor for a whale watching excursion to the Farallon Islands, a wildlife refuge about 30 miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge. This is the season that Humpbacks, Grays, and even an occasional Blue whale can be spotted during their migration south. After about an hour and a half of trouncing in relatively rough seas, we reached the protected islands to take in the resident birds and mammals when our captain got a call from the Coast Guard that they had received a distress signal from a nearby private fishing vessel that had capsized. After just a few minutes, we came upon two men sitting on the underside of their fishing boat hull and were able to board them on our ship to the ecstatic applause of the 50 plus people on board our vessel. Elation quickly turned to disbelief as we learned that a third man had drowned when heavy waves initially capsized the boat. The body was found floating nearby, which was quickly pulled onboard for transportation back to shore. What a challenging and bonding experience this turned out to be as we turned to each other in shock. And what an example of the impermanence of all things – especially of our own lives. If we buy into the assumption that we are in full control, an incident like this reminds us that we can’t even be guaranteed that the next breath we take won’t be our last. Our hearts go out to the family and friends of this man who perished, and all those affected by the accident.