He looked about three years old. He wore a green life vest and matching green plastic goggles held in place with an elastic band. It was a beautiful, breezy beach day in mid-January in West Palm Beach. It was only the second beach day we had enjoyed since we arrived here over a week ago. He caught my eye as soon as I walked to the ocean’s edge. He ran in short, choppy steps as all little boys do running on the sand. Little girls always seem more graceful. He was charging in and out the water. Jumping the waves. He would get knocked down and jump up for more. He had a big smile on his face. He would lift his goggles up to look out at the ocean as if to say this is real and it’s all mine. He had no fear. He was like millions of little kids who meet this force of nature greater than themselves. He had what I assume was an older brother, maybe about six years old, who was jumping around a little farther out in the water. Their mother was watching from her chair on the beach. There was also a little girl who was running in and out of the water and an older teenage boy buried in the sand. He got up to walk their small dog.
My attention was then drawn to an old man who walked slowly by me into the water. He had a full head of gray hair. He was tall and had a stiff unsteady gait. He was approaching the water seeming to be uncertain if he should be doing this at all. He got ankle deep and stopped and gazed out at the ocean for a couple of minutes. The little boy was racing in and out of the water completely unaware. The old man then slowly bent down and reached into the water. You could almost hear him creaking. He straightened up and looked down at some small shells he had picked up. He was concentrating on staying upright. He then bent down a second time for some more shells. He started to lean to one side as he went down and the last thing he wanted to happen, happened. He fell down into the water. As the small waves washed over him, he struggled to get up on one knee. As he tried to push himself up a couple of times, I thought should I try to help him up? But I didn’t want to embarrass him. After a couple of tries, he did get up and steadied himself. He paused and put the small shells he retrieved in his pocket. He stood still and looked out the ocean. I wondered what he was thinking.
All of us have witnessed similar scenes during a day at the beach. But I was struck by how these two figures at the water’s edge represented the cycle of life. The young boy was embracing this world of wonder. He had his whole life ahead of him. He was enveloped by the sea and the sand. It was thrilling and new. We would all hope his life ahead would have more thrilling and new moments. The old man had lived his life. He was slowed down by age as we all will be. I wondered what he was thinking as he gazed out on the endless ocean and the scare he got when he lost his balance. He walked back past me and sat in chair and put on a cap and continued to look out at the sea. The young boy on the beach continued to race in and out of the waves smiling and reminding us of the joys of life.
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