The Salmon's Amazing Journey
There are mysteries associated with the ability of salmon to return home to spawn after years of migration over huge distances. Adult salmon lay their eggs in gravelly river beds, where fast water flows. Within days, these mature females die. After two or three years their relatively small offspring swim downstream to find the plentiful food supply of the ocean. Sometimes this journey covers thousands of kilometres. When the time comes to spawn, however, the salmon still remembers how to get back to the rapidly flowing shallow water where their eggs must be laid and fertilized.
How do salmon find their way back home? They often travel day and night, swimming upstream against swift currents, and up waterfalls that may be more than three metres high. Salmon runs along the Yukon River, for example, may involve a journey of some three thousand kilometres.
There are many theories about how salmon know their way home. Everything from the position of the sun to electrical charges generated by ocean currents has been suggested. Many feel their sense of smell guides them. Others suggest that they have an ability to memorize cues from the Earth’s magnetic field. Whatever the mechanism, the path is imprinted in the genes and passed on through the generations.
So next time you are daunted by a trip, think of the salmon and press on.
Though the salmon's homing instincts are indeed remarkable, it is their ability to swim upstream that is most captivating. Up rapids and against strong currents, they manage to swim for great distances to their spawning grounds.
The Salmon have their human counterparts. (1) Galileo swam up stream when he declared that the earth revolved around the sun, against popular belief. (2) Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis swam upstream against the common practice of doctors refusing to wash their hands when performing operations. They wanted people to see them with blood on their clothing as a "badge" of how important they were. As a result most of the patients died from infection. Semmelweis endured great persecution when he insisted doctors should disinfect their hands and wear clean garments.* (3) James Herschel swam upstream when he tried to interest authorities in fingerprinting offenders as a means of identification. At that time, a system of body measurements was being used for identification purposes. Herschel began his studies into fingerprinting in 1858. It was not till 1903 in the United States that fingerprinting was proved more effective.**
The path of progress is not always easy. Often it requires men and women with salmon-like qualities to swim against the tide. (*When Science Fails by John Hudson Tiner - ISBN 1-56265-005-X pp. 31-36) (** Ibid pp.53-61)
Men and women of faith are increasingly being asked to swim against the tide of public opinion. Traditional values that were once taken for the norm, are now questioned and challenged in the public arena.
Are traditional values to be rejected, simply because they are traditional? Is it not the duty of every one to examine the path they will take in life, and make sure it will lead to a happy conclusion? We cannot afford to mindlessly follow the crowd without knowing where they are headed. It is only good sense to examine the values we are presented with and make sure they rest on a solid foundation. We need to look into the lives of godly men, and determine whether the path they chose was for good or ill.
However, there is a warning, "Once you have found the path of life, you may find yourself swimming against the tide."
David Humphreys and Christopher Shennan
© August 2004
