Looking for Mom

Trying to Suck Milk out of a Boat

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Australian media say a lost humpback whale calf has bonded with a yacht it seems to think is its mother. The 1- to 2-month-old calf was first sighted Sunday in waters off north Sydney, and on Monday tried to suckle from a yacht, which it would not leave.

Rescuers towed the yacht out to sea, and the calf finally detached from the boat but still swam nearby, Australian Broadcasting Corp. and Channel 10 television news reported. The calf appears exhausted but rescuers hope it will continue out to sea and search for its mother or another pod of whales.

"The outlook is not good, but we are giving the calf its only option. It can't be fed, and in fact we wouldn't know what to feed it" because it is not weaned, National Parks and Wildlife regional manager Chris McIntosh told ABC radio.

This baby whale could not find his mom, so he decided to adopt one. An unusual one, but at least for a while the baby was comforted by the feel and touch of that most unusual mom!

We all look for our moms everywhere! Some psychologists tell us that men look for female partners who resemble their moms. I do not know about the physical appearance, but I am sure that many men expect their wives to perform the functions of their moms. Fill in that emotional gap. And it is not just about feeding and providing an endless supply of clean shirts and underwears, shirts which men occassionally wear as they go out seeing mistresses!

No it is not all about those needs. I think the thing which men find in their moms and continue to look for thereafter, is that "pillar" of unconditional love and acceptance. But it just does not happen. Men do not realize that the maternal biological bond which mothers have in them by instinct towards children is the cement of that "pillar". A wife or a girlfriend can never really provide that! It is just too much to ask. But this was "Love 101" for us. Our relationship with our mothers, is the first and most influential relationship in our lives! It surely shapes our perception of love, giving and receiving!

Women complain that men just have endless expectations. But where did men pick up that habit? The first and possibly longest relationship with a female, in so far, was the one between the guy and his mother. Mothers just give and give regardless. You can fail your exams, have 10 girlfriends, come back home drunk every night, have a dumpster for a room, ruin the carpets with gums, never wash a dish, have funny stains in your underwears, and can even get away with murder. Mum will always love you and possibly defend your crabby behavior! How can you expect men to shift from "that" to a situation when the guy is expected to actually "earn" that love. No, sorry, not "that" love, nothing comes close to "that"!

Some quotes indicate that the most successful marriages happen when the "wife" can juggle between a large number of roles. Now, let us think. Mom, lover, mother of the children, washing machine, dishwasher, 24-hour restuarant, an exotic mistress, home-tutor, alarm-clock, plumber, computer, finance minister, tailor, hair-dresser, make-up artist, show-shiner, hand-kerchief, esteem-booster, doormat, nurse, host, psychologist, back-rubber, massager, map-reader, mind-reader, driver, ... are but a few examples of the roles expected from the poor kid who just turned twenty something only to find herself married and in charge of that complicated "situation".

Yes. We all look for our mothers. But we have to settle for the nearest match. Exactly like this baby whale, who persistently and for a very long time, was trying to suck milk out of a yacht.