The Ocean Knows海知道

Text by Hui Guniang 辉姑娘

Translation by Xu Chaolan 许超岚

The Ocean Knows
海知道

Text by Hui Guniang 辉姑娘

Translation by Xu Chaolan 许超岚

32 June 2017

Ionce went diving in Sabah, a small state in Malaysia. Wet and tired,isat on the beach with my diving instructor, with the waves of the Pacifc Ocean lapping at our ankles. As we sat, he spoke sadly of a patch of dying coral he’d found. Someone had taken a piece from the whole, he told me, and vulnerable coral couldn’t survive being incomplete. Even after having received plenty of dissuasions and warnings, a few visitors still could not resist their desire to touch coral. Only by touching or in some cases taking some coral would they feel like “I came,isaw,iconquered.”

Later that day we sat by the shore staring out at the sunrise. In silence, he lifted his hand and scrawled “I am here” on the sand. We watched the words wash away beneath the waves. He looked up at me, “Isn’t that enough? Nothing else needs to be done to demonstrate thatihave been here. The ocean knows, and that’s all that matters. ”

(FromWomen,February 2017)

在沙巴潜水时，一位潜水教练很难过地对我说，昨天他发现一片正在死去的珊瑚。我问他珊瑚为什么会死去，他说因为珊瑚很脆弱，只要采下一小块，很可能一大片珊瑚就都会死去。即使再三劝诫或警告，还是会有少数游客忍不住动手去触碰那些珊瑚。

每一个人都觉得，只有抚摸或获得那些珊瑚，才会有“我来过，我看到过”的满足感。

彼时，我们坐在岸边看日落，他随手在沙滩上写下“我在这里”。我们一起看着这行字被海浪吞没，沙滩恢复平坦。他抬起头来看我：“这样不就很好吗？我不需要做任何事证明自己曾经在这里，海知道，就够了。”

（摘自《妇女》 2017年第2期）