What I’ve Learned : ‘Let’s Act Like a Giant Hand to Slap Politicians Across The Face’ : DICK DALE

I’m a lifelong lover of animals. I used to have a zoo at my Newport Beach home. I trained and cared for lions, tigers, ocelots, toucans. I try to emulate their roars and calls through my music.

Human beings can never match the power and strength of the African lion, tiger or elephant or the power of the waves of the ocean. When you feel invincible, go empty-handed into a cage with a 500-pound Siberian tiger or paddle out to face a wave 15 feet high. You will then instantly realize what you are and what you are not.

My whole life has been surfing. But I don’t surf anymore because I almost had my leg amputated from an infection I caught right out in front of my house in Newport Beach. I continued to surf and caught the same infection again in Hawaii, Jamaica and Tahiti. So That taught me to stay out of the water. When you know what’s in the water, you don’t go near it: DDT and mercury, raw sewage, chemicals.

The whales are dying out because their immune systems are breaking down. These creatures have never been confronted with the array of toxins that now tarnish their waters. Sewage is pumped offshore every day. Whenever there’s a storm, they close the beach because of sewage spills. Humans can stay out, but what about the whales? What about the fish? They live there.

With the endless polluting of our oceans, our animals and our society, I felt compelled to speak through my music in the hope of reaching other people who wonder why the strong devour the weak.

To my delight, college radio stations across the country have embraced my music and invited me to visit and play concerts. So, for the first time in my life, I played to a different crowd in a different town every night. The shows lasted 1 1/2 hours, then I would step aside and greet people.

Through this ritual, I realized how many others are dismayed by the greed and apathy that seem to be destroying our environment and our society. These were people from all walks of life: housewives, skinheads, bikers, lawyers, students, teen-agers.

So there is a movement going on. But it needs to be bigger. If we could get everybody to have the mental strength and courage that comes from knowledge, we could have a rumbling through this country that nobody’s ever seen. If we could unite and act like a giant hand to slap some of the politicians across the face, then maybe we might start receiving some legislation that is actually geared toward our--and the environment’s--well being.

Dick Dale, father of the “surf sound,” is featured on the sound track of the movie “Pulp Fiction.” He is a director of the World International Surfing Hall of Fame and is active in Save the Whales. He welcomes comments via fax at (619) 367-7003. He was interviewed for The Times by Paul Strobel.