The Shark and the Soundtrack

I watched a clip of sharks feeding the other day. The video was layered with suspenseful music and voices filled with alarm. I used to join in with that reaction — oh my gosh, how vicious, how wild.

But this time, I saw something different.

If I were in water with no hands and no feet,  just a body, a head, and a mouth. How else would I eat? With the tools I had. With the motion of the ocean around me. Just as the shark was doing.

The drama wasn’t in the shark. The drama was in the soundtrack.

It struck me how often we mistake survival for savagery, or instinct for intention. Not just in animals, but in each other. What we call vicious is sometimes just adapted. What we frame as hostile is sometimes just a way to cope.

The shift is subtle but powerful: moving from the lens of drama to the lens of being.

And yet, this perspective doesn’t mean excusing harm or danger. Sharks can bite, and people can hurt. But even then, it is possible to hold both truths: this is dangerous to me and this makes sense for them.

Reflection Questions

1. Where in my life am I adding a soundtrack of drama to something that might simply be a way of being?

2. What changes in me when I see survival behaviors as adaptations rather than attacks?

3. How might my perception shift if I asked: What tools does this person (or creature) actually have? How best do I move forward with this knowledge while protecting myself?