The world may seem like a dark and scary place right now, but the people in one town on the coast of Maine just did something wonderful that proves that there’s still hope for humanity. When a 30-foot-long, four-ton boy washed up on the beach, this community worked together to return it to the ocean.
Beautiful!
This past Thursday started out just like any other for the people of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, until a local mail carrier named Martin Barlow spotted a massive form on the beach which, on closer inspection, he realized was a 30-foot-long little boy who had been left stranded on the sand and was struggling in vain to get back into the ocean. Martin immediately sprinted onto the beach and started calling for help to get the four-ton boy back into the water.
“I saw that huge kid and thought, There’s no way a boy that massive is going to be able to get himself back into the ocean. I have to help him,” says Martin. “In this community, we consider it our responsibility to protect the sea and the creatures who live in it, and when a nine-year-old child the size of an 18-wheeler gets washed out of the ocean, you better believe we’re going to do everything we can to save him.”
Martin knew he couldn’t move such an enormous boy by himself. He also knew that if he didn’t get the boy back into the ocean, authorities would have to blow him up with dynamite before the seagulls started eating his body. This was an ecological emergency that one person couldn’t solve alone. Fortunately, within moments, Martin was joined by dozens of community members who all started pushing the enormous boy back into the sea. Soon there were over 100 people on the beach working to rescue the boy and offering suggestions on the best way to get his colossal frame back into the ocean.
Faith in humanity restored!
It was truly inspiring watching so many people volunteering to help, from truck drivers offering their vehicles, to nurses monitoring the boy’s 600-pound heart to make sure his vitals didn’t plunge, to the group of barbers from a nearby barbershop who climbed on top of the boy to give him a bowl cut while the rescue team worked together to get him back into the ocean.
According to witnesses, the boy, wearing nothing but swim trunks and goggles, got stuck on the beach after wandering too close to the shore to beg local fishermen to throw hamburgers into the water for him. Experts say that had the boy been stranded on the beach for more than a few hours, he would have been done for. But Martin and his fellow residents of Cape Elizabeth weren’t about to let that happen.
As they pushed the boy across the sand, he screamed things like, “I’m hungry!” and “I’m bored!” The sounds of his distress were heartbreaking, but they inspired everyone to work even harder to rescue him. By the early afternoon, the boy was back in the water and swimming happily back home, all thanks to the power of teamwork.
Wow! It doesn’t get any more heartwarming than this.
The people of Cape Elizabeth deserve a round of applause for saving this enormous boy and returning him to his natural habitat. If more people were willing to come together as a community to do some good like them, the world would undoubtedly be a better place!
