Where Life Begins
Seoul, Korea
2021, Junior, Art
Reflection
Reflection
Once, my brother and I went exploring the ocean, paddling on a raft and snorkeling. When I first popped my head underwater, it was dark and scary. I was scared to see unfamiliar creatures moving around me, and suddenly the colorful fish now seemed like a bunch of terrifying predators. I quickly popped my head back up and could not see my brother. I first thought I was lost or my brother had drowned. I panicked big time for a second, but I soon noticed a bright yellow stick looking object was moving around and noticed my brother was full-on exploring the ocean without fear. I quickly swam over and held on to him because I was too scared to look down. Suddenly, my brother pulled me down to look underwater. I pulled my brother’s head back up and said, “I want to go back to the shore.” He replied, “Did you know that these fish are not dangerous? They are actually really colorful if you look at them from the sunny side." With this new knowledge, I saw that the fish weren’t the terrifying beings that I saw before. Rather, colorful and shiny fish filled my vision. Swimming in schools, fish hid behind sponges when I got closer. A lot were gray and pink and had dots on their back, but we saw one unique type of fish that was a color of the rainbow. It seemed like the fish and the corals were having a party. The corals were swaying side to side as if it were welcoming me and asking me if I wanted to join their party. After that I was not so afraid of the ocean anymore. I learned that what made such appealing scenes possible were the coral reefs. As part of our trip, my family took a helicopter ride around the archipelago. During our tour, our guide showed us coral reefs that were bleached because of global warming. While I got to see the true beauty of the ocean, future generations may not be able to if we continue to let corals and other living creatures die.