Limelight: The sea beckons By Lubna Abdel-Aziz "If there is magic in this planet, it is contained in water." Why is mankind so fascinated by the sea? What is it that draws us so completely, so desperately to it? With the summer season upon us, our dream is to partake of the lavish bounty only the sea can bestow. Like a mother who calls forth to a lost child, we ardently rush to its warm embrace, to bask in its luxuriant comfort and security. In constant motion, the secret of its allure lies buried deep, submerged beneath its fathomless sea bed. There is little doubt that wherever we exist on this vast planet Earth, our favourite vacation destination is by a body of water. That is why a seaside property is the most expensive property in the entire world. One look at any beach and you immediately notice more, or an even number of people, in, as out, of the water. What are they doing there? Sitting on a strip of sand? No, they crave the proximity of the sea! The sun of course is an attraction, but it is hard to imagine that those multitudes would be as happy lying in the desert with plenty of sun and sand, and no sea. The sea sings its sweetest songs more powerful than man's finest symphonies penetrating our hearts and warming all our senses. Swinging and swaying like a soft lullaby, it calms, and smoothes the tired soul, lifting it to new heights. There can be no life on earth without water. Scientists believe that life started in the sea, and gradually developed and moved onto land. Although the origin of life is a limited field of research, with slow and sporadic progress, it is an accepted fact that life on earth emerged from non-life, sometime around 4.4 billion years ago when liquid water first flowed on the planet. For further proof, scientists have compared the composition of sea water with the composition of body water in man and animal, and found the proportions of the elements are much alike. Water in fact, amounts to about 65 per cent of the human body. Since early times, man has taken advantage of the sea and its myriad offerings. Under the sea he discovered animals that provide food, pelts, oil, and valuable minerals like iodine, salt and magnesium. He used the sea as a source of drinking water, and as a highway for commerce. Regretfully, he also used it as a dumping ground for all his refuse. Now more than ever, the sea swallows man's garbage, sewage and radioactive waste. Until when can it survive, preserving its riches, if we continue to feed it all our rubbish? Many more treasures await us beneath the waters,other than pearls, sponges, and seaweeds, if we can keep it healthy. People began to explore the oceans long before recorded history. Now the science of oceanography has developed into many specialised branches like marine biology, geology, etc. These scientific sailors are kept busy in waters that cover 79 per cent of the earth's surface, yet not all the secrets of the seas have been revealed to mankind. The sea's recreational attributes have never escaped us. Not everyone lives by the sea, but by the early 19th century, the locomotive brought the sea closer to all the earth's land-dwellers. Almost every country has used whatever body of water it possessed to develop a dreamy resort for the human, thirsty for the peace and tranquillity evoked by it. "Water, water everywhere," and that is all that we need. The sea is bigger and better than anything else we know in this world. It is "something huge, ineluctable, arguable, and irresistible". What is there to compare it with? The great cultures of the ancients have all sprung by seas and rivers. The Mediterranean gave birth to such civilisations as Egypt, Greece, Rome, Babylonians, and Phoenicians. Those who controlled the seas controlled the world. It is their legacy that would sow the seeds of Western civilisation. The mysterious allure that the sea holds for man may be in its motion.The waters of the sea never stop moving. We watch the waves as they hit the sandy beaches, chasing each other as the wind controls their size. We feel them caressing our bare feet as we walk up and down the beach, childlike and carefree as only the sea can transform us. Yet waves are a mighty force rising higher than 12 metres, smashing large ships, breaking large rocks when provoked by storms. Earthquakes and shifts in the sea bottom create tidal waves that can destroy large towns with their inhabitants. The anger of the sea is uncontrollable -- as much as we love it, we also fear it. Antagonistic as well as inspiring, the large endless sea has kept its secrets of enchantment well hidden from mankind for millions of years. Serenaded by many a poet, painter, author and musician, its language may be unknown yet it is the "original universal language, which even if not understood, is deeply felt." Perhaps it is the language of heaven that transcends our understanding, but what does it matter, as long as we become children building sandcastles along the seashore. Sir Isaac Newton said it best shortly before his death: "To myself, I seem to have been only like a boy playing by the sea shore, while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me." So let us leave the city's rat race behind, let us off to our beaches and summer resorts. Let us off to "the Sea, the Sea, the open Sea. The blue, the fresh, the ever free." Let us drink of its spiritual powers, its wonder and wisdom which, better than all the drugs and drinks, better than all the pills and potions, sustains us instantaneously, and throughout the year. The people along the sand, all turn and look one way, They turn their back on the land, they look at the sea all day. -- Robert Frost (1874-1963)
