Suspicious Sam

Dear Hikmet, Why is whale watching so important to you? -Suspicious Sam Dear Suspicious Sam, What a great question! This is one I’d be happy to research and answer, as it seems that whale watching is most notorious among the HGM seniors. From what I’ve found, there’s apparently an old legend that has been passed down by the seniors from generation to generation. Here’s how it goes (paraphrased, of course): Long ago in a distant land, there was a world-renowned scholar who excelled in all fields. A leading scientist in the field of Biology, a decorated author and poet, and a master of US history, there was nothing that this scholar couldn’t do. A sage among his people, he was widely flocked to with myriad questions that ranged from academia to life advice. With no one else having a pedigree as astounding as his, the advice he provided was treated with the utmost respect, earning him a reputation as a wise man. The scholar’s name was Ethan Bradbury. The legend goes on to focus on two group of his disciples, who began learning from him in the year MMXIII. At that time, Mr. Bradbury was finishing up the research on his latest project, which concerned the strange phenomenon of whales voluntarily beaching themselves to death. These disciples helped with the research, which was the first exposure they were given to whales and the study of them. By the year MMXIV, Mr. Bradbury has moved away from Biology for a brief period of time, instead using his natural talents in the English language to teach the next generation of disciples. There, they learned how to craft the most eloquent of poems, as well as the skills necessary to write an award-winning novel and to analyze the writings of old. Strangely, a recurring theme in the works that they read were whales. Over time, this generation of disciples fostered the same fascination with whales as the previous generation. By the year MMXV, that second group of disciples had been studying with Mr. Bradbury for a long time. However, they had not been directly able to work with whales as the first generation of disciples had. In order to compensate for this, Mr. Bradbury organized a worldwide expedition that he would go on with his disciples, in order to study and observe whales in the wild. Planned a year in advance, it became the talk a of the town, and the most anticipated moment in the lives of the disciples. They prepared and prepared, acquiring sea worthy vessels and learning how to survive on the open ocean. With all of the provisions meticulously prepared down to the rice grain, the disciples were prepared and ready to go whale watching. However, tragedy struck. Mere weeks before the expedition was to be set off, Mr. Bradbury made the grave announcement that the expedition had to be canceled, due to “bureaucratic firewalls”, as put by Mr. Bradbury himself. Even with all of the preparation in place, there was nothing Mr. Bradbury could do to alleviate the situation. Needless to say, the disciples were crushed, and the event would go down as one of the greatest betrayals in human history. Although many of the disciples decided to stay under Mr. Bradbury, the “Great Whale Watching Escapade” (as it came to be called) became a sore spot for many of them. As such, they decided to immortalize the tale in the form of a legend, which they would then pass on to later generations. That seems to be what happened here, as I’m sure you realize what with you hearing of this grand tale. Hopefully you found this answer informative and the legend entertaining, as it was my pleasure to research it and relay it as best I could. Best Wishes, -Hikmet