Beware of sharks.

What thoughts, images, or feelings pop into your head when I say the word shark to you?

Likely, the connotation you have with sharks is not that positive.

For some of you, the movie Jaws may come to mind. A movie about a shark causing death and destruction.

We also know stories about human beings being attacked by sharks close to beaches resulting in death or body parts lost in the attacks.

Those stories have caused many of us to experience fear when the topic is sharks.

On our recent trip to the Maldives, we signed up for a few snorkeling excursions. At the introduction to the trip, the possibility of a shark encounter was brought up.

Sharks?

It didn’t sound very tempting to go snorkeling and be served for breakfast to a bunch of sharks.

I guess the guide witnessed our facial expression as he soon clarified that while these fish were called sharks, they had never attacked any human being.

“This type of shark couldn’t care less about a human being in his surroundings,” he added.

Yeah, right, I thought.