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A comment about a story I tell my students
I'm sharing another person's comment on Why Does A Ghost Whale Terrorize The Japanese Coast?
Sometimes creating a legend is the best way to get people to show respect. In the 1970s Volcano National Park in Hawaii had a problem with people taking volcanic rocks home as souvenirs. It was at this point a park ranger created the legend that anybody who takes a rock from the island would be cursed by the god Pele. Every year, the park still gets rocks mailed back.
I tell this story every semester in geology, although I read on Snopes that it was a tour bus driver who came up with it. Just the same, I first heard this story when I was a Park Ranger, and I know the rangers tell it, even if they didn't originate it.
Sometimes creating a legend is the best way to get people to show respect. In the 1970s Volcano National Park in Hawaii had a problem with people taking volcanic rocks home as souvenirs. It was at this point a park ranger created the legend that anybody who takes a rock from the island would be cursed by the god Pele. Every year, the park still gets rocks mailed back.
I tell this story every semester in geology, although I read on Snopes that it was a tour bus driver who came up with it. Just the same, I first heard this story when I was a Park Ranger, and I know the rangers tell it, even if they didn't originate it.