Hidup Dari Kaca Mataku: How The Tackett's Underwater Love Taught Me

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Assalamualaikum. Hello again to my faithful readers, among which are my good friends out there. How are you people? Hope you're enjoying the holidays, as long as they still last.

A splendid thing happened last weekend, i.e a few days ago; my cousin got married. I call it "splendid" simply because it's a happy occasion. The bride and groom were happy, their parents, aunts and uncles, and don't forget cousins, too were happy. Everybody was..just happy. Even my other cousins' kids were happy, though of course they didn't have the slightest clue of what marriage is all about. They were simply happy just running around and playing. (Now I understand why the adults are always exhausted..just looking at those rascals makes me exhausted.) Anyway, I've been away attending the wedding at Melaka, helping in any small way that I can, that I haven't got the time to update on this..well, blog.

It's been a while since I last wrote in English, that I started to miss it. Today's topic is about love. (Laughs maniacally) Love! Hehe! Alright, sorry. But it's not the goofy-doofy usual kind of love. It's about a couple's passion about nature..it's a story of the Tackett's underwater love.

What is a Tackett? A Tackett is not a thing, dear friends. Tackett is a family name, like Bush is the family name of George Bush and Obama is the family name for Barack Obama. (Just examples) Now, why would I want to talk about the Tackett's? Who are they, anyway? They're not the President of the US's relatives, that's for sure.

Well, the story began yesterday..

Everyday at 7:00 pm, TV1 would air the National Geographic series, or channel. It used to be a 1 hour slot, but lately it's been reduced to 1/2 an hour. It's a good move actually, because I usually missed those shows as it was too close to the Maghrib call to pray. By cutting it short, I was able to watch it and not pray too late.

Yesterday was the story about the Tackett's. Larry and Denise Tackett are nature lovers, particularly the underwater world. The things they do mostly are taking photographs on nature, but they usually focus more on the mysterious world under the sea. A lot of their photographs are used by a myriad of diving magazines. There are a lot of other information about them on their website http://www.tackettproductions.com/
What they do, the photographs they've taken, who do they work for.

In short, Larry and Denise Tackett are proffesional nature photographers whose works are more often than not, used in various documentaries and shows.

Actually, I was attracted more to Mrs Tackett. Yesterday's documentary was about the couple's love for Lembeh Strait (Selat Lembeh) in Indonesia. If I'm not mistaken, Larry Tackett said,

"Of all the places that I've dived, nothing fascinates me more than Lembeh
Strait".

They never get tired of visiting the strait, they love it too much. They say that the next time they come back, they'll always see something that they've never seen before, perhaps even on the same spot that they've dived countless times.

And I quote Denise Tackett saying,

"There's always another critter to be found."

Last night was a story about a macro world under the sea. Have you ever seen underwater pictures of corals and weird looking fishes, on many similar National Geographic shows? I have, but it never bores me to look at them again. And again. And again. Just so that I could be reminded of how great Allah really is. That there's more mysteries on earth left undiscovered. Under the sea..is just a whole another world, waiting to be discovered. It's just..so beautiful. Thanks to people like the Tacketts, people like me can enjoy snippets of the underwater world, even for a mere 30 minutes.

What is the point of me talking about these two divers? Of course there is a point. Or else, we would have wasted the last 10 minutes reading my crappy writing. (laughs)

Point 1. The Tackett's attitude.

(What about them?) WHAT ABOUT THEM? For me, they're attitudes are those worth decribing. Worth talking about. Worthy of our note. They find that the world around them, nature, is so fascinating that they put an effort to find out more about them.

They have..THIS DRIVE in them, TO LEARN, TO KNOW more about these woderful creatures. That's what's make them worth talking about. They make an effort. But us..us muslims, who believe that this world is CREATED, that there is only ONE creator, we, do not make an effort.

I'm sorry if this sounds too harsh, but let's face it, how many muslim scholars do we know, make a contribution like these people? Scholars for religious studies are still abundant, I believe, but what about scholars for worldly knowledge?

Some sides might blast me for my words, saying that I'm no muslim for writing these very words. That's what we've been doing all this time ; blasting each other. Instead of really working together, all we did was BLAME, BLAME, and then more blaming. Ever wonder why Iraq has fallen, or that Afghanistan still lay in pieces, or who can forget ; PALESTINE, which the world does not even recognize as a state? From my view; attitude problem.

Are we too proud to admit that the west is better than us? What is there to be proud of? Have we forgotten what Allah SWT has taught us?

He taught us that no one is above one another. We are all his servants, only He is above us all. For He is God, our creator. What then, do we have to be proud of? This attitude is wrong.

Even the west learnt from the muslims. (All right class, it's time for your favourite subject, history!)

Remember about "Renaissance"? Better known as the "Dark Ages", because at that time all of Europe was in the dark. Instead, muslim countries flourished under the Uthmaniyyah empire, where knowledge is..so abundant. We were the masters of knowledge..at the moment. But in the end, we fell under the west's attack, and they took all the knowledge, absorbed it into their own, made it their own. And where are WE now? Clamouring at each other's throat, blaming each other, that the west continue to take advantage of..the so-called "muslim countries".

I'm not proud about the way things turned out. But if we continue to only blame, and not learn from our mistakes, then, you can be sure, even for another 100 years, things won't change. They'll stay the same.

If we continue to only hate the west for what they've done, then the only thing we're going to pass down to the next generation is that; HATE. Do we really want to teach them that?

Let the Israel teach THEIR KIDS TO HATE, don't we do the same to our kids. Children are born in 'fitrah', it's the parents who make them 'Majusi' (People who serve fire), 'Nasrani'(Christian) or 'Yahudi'(Jew). - From a 'sahih'(genuine/trusted) hadith.

Last but not least, I'd like to share something; a quote from Dennis Tackett :

"If you don't look, you don't see. But if you look, you'll see."

She was referring to the tiny macroscopic world the sea presents, where there are actually many kinds of other animals, only that they're just to small to see. It can only be seen with the aid of cameras PLUS A MAGNIFYING LENSE. For e.g, there are actually sea horses only 2 cm long, but with the help of special photography technique, we are able to see these tiny critters. When you're doing it the first time, it's really hard to spot them. But after many trials, they become increasingly easier to notice. That's why she says, "If you don't look, you don't see. But if you look, you'll see".

Her sentence..reminded me of Allah. (How?) (laughs) Well, if you don't try to find God, you'll never find Him. But if you DO try to find Him, you'll find that He is surprisingly near. Always.

A funny thing to learn on a National Geo channel, eh?

Hippocampus Denise (named after Denise Tackett) ; world's smallest sea horse