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“Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever…” – Psalm 146:5-6
In the delightful Netflix hit show produced in South Korea (with subtitles), Extraordinary Attorney Woo, the neurodiversity of autism allows the show’s main character, Woo Young-woo, to function at an incredibly high level as an attorney. Her gifts are discovered as a young child when she was witness to a frightening, violent encounter, and she reacts by shouting verbatim the detailed legal code as it relates to assault. She had memorized her father’s law books while he was in law school. Her insatiable and “amazing” ability to retain megabytes of information led her mind in a broad spectrum of directions, often to the confusion of the people she encountered. One of the father’s helpful rules for Woo before her first day at a law firm was to not talk about whales, because when she began talking about whales, she was like a turbo engine with no off switch. Her fascination with the enormous sea mammals was limitless, and yet, at the same time, her obsession with whales gave her a coping mechanism in times of stress, because when she could imagine whales swimming peacefully and fluidly above her, her mind calmed and her heart stopped racing. Thinking about whales calmed her amidst chaos. The portrayal of the connection between Woo and whales becomes a paean to the essential relationship between humanity and nature, a relationship that has been taken for granted far too long. We dismiss that which sustains us and are callous toward that which, if ignored, will imperil our very being.
Einstein said, “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” In observing, appreciating, understanding, and protecting the natural world around us, we inevitably grow in self-knowledge, and are calmed and centered in an awareness of our place in the grand design of God’s good creation. “So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind … God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.”
In a philosophical moment, A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh and Owl observe, “Some people talk to animals. Not many listen though. That's the problem.”
God’s gift to us? The earth, God’s ultimate listen and learn lesson.
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