Amazed by the Aquarium

I take one step into a maze of entertainment. Little sea creatures are waiting within the walls, looking out and pacing back and forth within their glass containers. Some have teeth, some are radiant, some have legs, and some float as the zephyrs of water take them round and round. I see the beauty of nature, imagining myself swimming amongst the schools of fish, through the coral, and into the deep blue sea. But still, I'm just another land animal, on land, watching the aquatic animals swim idly in their glass containers. I would never be able to fly through the waters like the ocean currents. Taking the path through the entire building, I see more and more of the creatures with fins, claws, shells, and gills. They're pretty. They're weird. They're alien. I can imagine myself swimming among them, but never as them. It's cool to have way too many legs or a single part that swishes back and forth to make you glide fast through the waters; I don't think I can do that. They're different species, all in a different place within this kingdom. Completely different, but amazing. I'm here to marvel at their uniqueness. They flow with the waves; they crawl across the seabed. I would've died, crushed by the seas if I were to live their natural lives. And I think of how I'm safe here in the aquarium. And then I think of how they are in this place. In the aquarium, they are not as unique as their natural counterparts. They're stuck in these engineered containers that simulate the waves and the waters, but it's not the same. Everything seems much more finite. In the chaos of nature, things happen. But here, things do not happen. I just stand here watching the same little living things go round and round and round. It's amusing for sure, but if I were to imagine myself as them, it would be a little dull. Perhaps the saddest thing would be that I couldn't see the beauty that the people outside the glass see in me.