Writing the name as “Ocean” is not a way of a human individual giving the Ocean an identity, as we have no individual rights to name the natural world. It is a way of showing recognition to what has always been present. Roordan reorganizes our thinking in regards to human ownership, what we conceive to be within our own domain of influence and what is actually out of our control. “Ocean” is the world and environment.

In the piece, Roordan explains to the audience the ideology behind the word “Ocean” being capitalized as one would a “country or continent.” Roordan’s comparison shows us that instead of viewing the Ocean as a “thing” – an object for humans to use – we recognize it for the geographical individuality and statehood sovereignty it possesses. The idea of nationhood in itself is a man made conception only established in a modern age. Calling a state by its individual and capitalized name shows recognition of ownership to that nation, a sign that we as a separate nation respect your right to rule and interact with your nation as you see fit. Capitaling Ocean is the beginning of an evolution in human relationship with the Ocean and the rights it contains over itself, not the rights we believe are assigned to it. 

Lack of capitalization “infantilizes” the Ocean in a way. To us, we see it as a resource for our needs, which then becomes exploited by a race of humans, which then needs conservation by those same races of humans. The Ocean does not need us to govern its tides. The Ocean does not need us to tell it how to care for its creatures and environment. The Ocean has never needed human influence in how it governs. It has total control on the regulation of its waves, its currents, its foam. For all of documented History, the Ocean is responsible for the carrying of knowledge. It has brought creatures across the globe to new lands, stretching biodiversity and evolution across the Earth. It has carried messages from one country to another. It has exchanged goods, people, technology, all for the benefit of humanity. Ocean decides where it moves. Ocean decides who leaves and who stays within its waters. Ocean is an individual, with its own systems, rules. It is a nation that for too long has been denied the respect it deserves from humans in regards to its name. Rooted in our written language is the disregard for Ocean vocabulary, viewing it as ours instead of itself. Even as I write this, the autocorrect wishes to “correct” Ocean to “ocean.” We have been ignorant and naive for far too long. We have deprived a nation from its title, the respect it deserves from those who expect so much from it. We have been taught incorrectly from a young age that the ocean is not a state, but a vast horizon, one that without human exploration, poses no insight to our kind. Yet – why should it reveal its secrets to us? What has the human race ever given this nation in return? 

In the political world, Nations exchange values with each other. Whether this be knowledge, economics, or policy, someone is winning in the barter. And what does the Ocean get? Nothing. We have never given the Ocean anything. We see it as being something within human confluence, therefore iot deserves no proper respect. We take and take, expecting its gifts to keep on giving. And yet – it is still here. It has always been here and it will be here long after humans have left this planet. The first step in correcting the damage we have done to its identity is paying proper respect to its name, its individualism, its Statehood. We are not the ones placing a name on it. We are recognizing it for the domain it has always been. Taking this small step will repair our relationship and lack of understanding we have come to be so comfortable with in regards to the Ocean. 

Roordan is responsible for reshaping how the readers see the Ocean and our relationship with it as a whole. This small correction to our everyday language positively impacts human connection with the Ocean and shows how we are able to give it the recognition and authority it has always withheld. Ocean identity is a part of the world, a massive nation that impacts us all. No matter how we try to shape the viewpoint as the Ocean being ours, something for human domination, Ocean will always come out on top. The Ocean is sovereign, the Ocean is a Nation, and we are at the will of how it shall dictate over us.