A
female humpback whale had become entangled in a
spider web of crab
traps and
lines.
She was weighted
down by hundreds of pounds of traps that
caused her
to struggle to stay
afloat.
She
also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped
around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging
in her mouth.
A fisherman spotted
her just east of the
Faralon
Islands (outside
the
Golden Gate ) and
radioed for
help.
Within a few hours,
the rescue team arrived and determined that she
was so bad off, the only way
to save her was to dive in and untangle
her -- a
very dangerous
proposition. One
slap of the
tail could kill a rescuer.

They
worked for hours with curved knives and eventually
freed her.
When
she was free, the divers say she swam in what
seemed like joyous circles. She
then came back to each and every diver, one at a
time, nudged them, and pushed
gently, thanking
them.
Some
said it was the most incredibly beautiful
experience of their lives.

The
guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye
was following
him the
whole
time,
and
he will never be the
same.
May
you, and all those you
love, be
so fortunate...
To
be surrounded by people who
will help you get
untangled from
the things that are binding you. And,
may you always know the
joy of
giving and receiving gratitude.
I
pass this on to you, my friend, in the same
spirit

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