The Sandy Beach


     Imagine that you are floating in the air, you’re floating above the ocean and looking towards the shore where there is a beautiful sandy cove surrounded by cliffs. It’s a beautiful, warm, sunny day. There is a pathway down from the top of the cliffs. You realize it is morning and younotice that there are some people going down the pathway to enjoy the beach. The children start building sand castles, and as the morning passes, more and more people come down thepathway to find a space on the sandy beach and their children start to build sand castles. However, as the day goes by, the beach gets more and more crowded. There is less space forbuilding sandcastles, and soon children accidentally tread on other children’s sandcastles as they take a step back to look at their own. Some children help to fix the sandcastle they trod on. Others don’t, they are focused on what they’re doing. Conflict arises between the children and some get angry. Adults who notice the situation join in some to help reduce the conflict and others contribute to it. All over the beach there is a mosaic of enclaves of joy and peace and others of anger and conflict. Welcome to planet Earth.

    As you observe the situation on the beach, you notice that the sun is starting to set, and people begin to leave. The beach is empty once more, and you see that the tide comes in. It washes down all the sandcastles and when it retreats, there is a nice, smooth, peaceful, sandybeach. In the morning, the sun comes up, and you see people and children starting to come down to the beach and start building sandcastles. It is a new day, fertile with new possibilities.

    Thoughts implicit in this bobtale.

    1. The journey we take each day can be viewed as analogous to visiting a sandy beach. Each day we have a chance to work with others to achieve a shared purpose i.e. build our sand castle. Often, we are challenged as we share our daily space with others by actions they take that negatively influences our ability to achieve our purpose.

    2. When we share our problem there are those that seek to help resolve it and others for whatever reason act to exacerbate it.

    3. Life is a school and from the way we handle our experiences each day we have a chance to help contribute to building a better world and learning how to help others do the same.

    4. We can view each new day as being fertile with new opportunities to create and learn.


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