Day 16: Rewatching Jaws

    A battle between man and shark. Great white terrorizing Amityville, a town that hates transplants, where you will never be an “islander” unless you were born there. Must be where those who can no longer deal with the influx of new arrivals in the city move to… only to be dealt with the same clannishness and inflexibility (or gatekeeping) that they dispensed to others.    This hunt for the shark, perpetrated by a temperamentally unstable and damaged shark hunter contractor with an axe to grind with the great big fishes, a wealthy college graduate with a passion for oceanography and expertise in sharks, and the new police chief imported from the city, facing up to his fears of the water and the general dislike and rejection of the local “islanders.”    This movie changed my life as a 7-year-old. It’s partly to blame for why I never learned how to swim. It’s why I have never gone beyond 3 feet of water. I trust neither saltwater nor freshwater. I can visualize the image of a shark in the murky waves as they break on the shore.   As I get older, the shallower the water I am willing to get in. Never mind that there’s never been a recorded shark attack in the area. Based on years of research and knowledge of the earliest recorded shark attacks, it’s just a matter of timing… and luck.   A town that’s never had a shark incident can just as easily have one, similar to a town that is part of the regular migration channels of sharks. Don’t give me the whole, “You are more likely to be bitten by a human than a shark.” Last I checked, a human bite is not as deadly. It cannot sever an artery or lead to an amputation. But say whatever makes you sleep at night.