Off the coast of Maine lies an island so small that the surrounding ocean can be seen from any point on the island. A visitor had the impulse to start a Sunday school class on the island, so he gathered the children around him for their first lesson. "How many of you," he asked, "have ever seen the Atlantic Ocean?" To his surprise, not a single hand went up.

There is such a thing as being so much a part of one's environment that we're simply not aware of it. It's the old story of not seeing the forest for the trees. Father John Colbein said we don't know for sure who discovered water, but we're pretty sure it wasn't the fish. Those Sunday school children saw the water ” they just didn't know it was the Atlantic Ocean. If they'd had a chance to sail on it or fly across it, they would have …