It is Saturday morning, the fourth day after Sandy’s superstorm. Enough procrastination, I must walk to the beach, this beach I so much cherish and that I visit every morning. I am walking on Ocean Parkway. My neighbors told me the sea had flooded the area all the way up to avenue y and then started receding, How come, by which miracle nobody knows.
I anticipated that for sure I will encounter damages along the way but in my wildest dreams I didn’t imagine the destruction I am to see. Cars all over the place, dirty, with mud all over, some had the doors open, thrown on the sidewalks, crooked , on top of each other, miserable reminders of once to be the spectacular glory of the Infifnity and the BMW’s and the Fords the Nissan’s. I keep going.
The sidewalks turned into junkyard, furniture, computers, chairs, clothing, mattresses armoires and the piles keep on growing. A woman with her pants pulled to her knees, is sorting in the wet piles looking as if “maybe after all I can save something from this pile.”
My heart is achy, the air is becoming heavy. So much destruction, so much suffering around. I force myself to keep going. I have to get to the beach.
Huge piles of sand stand on both sides of the avenue. The ramp to the boardwalk disappeared, buried under a platform of sand. Sandy didn’t only flood with water but brought along a ton of sand. The ocean pushed the beach inward towards the humans.
I am on the boardwalk. What a sight! The sky is blue, the sea is so calm. Wasn’t for the dirt scattered on the sand, and the piles of sand on the boardwalk, you would never believe such a storm was here. Plastic bottles, garbage cans, pieces of trees even some syringes here and there, foam cups all kind of dirt. My clean beach is hardly recognizable.
What happened here? Did the sea vomit all the dirt we keep on throwing into it? Or did it only mean to clean itself and with us human keeping on dumping our dirt all over Nature, Nature is saying” I have no choice, in order to clean everything from the dirt you throw at me lot of turbulence is needed. Look man this is the result of your insensitive behavior.”
Or maybe it was Nature saying: I have had enough of your behavior towards each other and towards me. There is no love and respect to nothing and nobody, maybe a little disaster will bring you together, will create healthier relationships, for you will understand and appreciate being human.
Or was it Nature saying you are not respecting my laws of love and consideration and respect towards all my elements and so now I’ll also treat you the same so that you learn, Allas the hard way.
Or maybe Nature is telling us “You thought you were the master, and wanted to use everybody everything and me included for your selfish purposes? Now maybe you will understand that you are integrated in me, you are only one of my elements and thus have to go according to my laws? The laws of giving of caring, of helping each other, of respect.”
Or maybe it was only a storm, and tomorrow is here to come and we can go with our business as usual? Would this be a responsible behavior, with no accountability?
The thoughts are racing in my head.
Cosney Island: the steel parachute is standing high in the air. The rides are there. I smile. The children will be happy.
In a playground that has been clean, people are playing handball. Life is taking over after all.
The benches didn’t move, they are all here. I sit on one of them and look at the horizon, at the calm and beautiful sea.
What is the answer? Probably a little bit of everything. Yes we became insensitive to each other, yes we used everybody and everything for our sole interest, yes we ignored nature laws of giving and respect and consideration.
Will we able to understand, to comprehend the meaning of it all? Will we able to change our ways even for a little tiny bit? Or will Nature come bacK to haunt us again?
A walk to the beach
It is Saturday morning, the fourth day after Sandy’s superstorm. Enough procrastination, I must walk to the beach, this beach I so much cherish and that I visit every morning. I am walking on Ocean Parkway. My neighbors told me the sea had flooded the area all the way up to avenue y and then started receding, How come, by which miracle nobody knows.
I anticipated that for sure I will encounter damages along the way but in my wildest dreams I didn’t imagine the destruction I am to see. Cars all over the place, dirty, with mud all over, some had the doors open, thrown on the sidewalks, crooked , on top of each other, miserable reminders of once to be the spectacular glory of the Infifnity and the BMW’s and the Fords the Nissan’s. I keep going.
The sidewalks turned into junkyard, furniture, computers, chairs, clothing, mattresses armoires and the piles keep on growing. A woman with her pants pulled to her knees, is sorting in the wet piles looking as if “maybe after all I can save something from this pile.”
My heart is achy, the air is becoming heavy. So much destruction, so much suffering around. I force myself to keep going. I have to get to the beach.
Huge piles of sand stand on both sides of the avenue. The ramp to the boardwalk disappeared, buried under a platform of sand. Sandy didn’t only flood with water but brought along a ton of sand. The ocean pushed the beach inward towards the humans.
I am on the boardwalk. What a sight! The sky is blue, the sea is so calm. Wasn’t for the dirt scattered on the sand, and the piles of sand on the boardwalk, you would never believe such a storm was here. Plastic bottles, garbage cans, pieces of trees even some syringes here and there, foam cups all kind of dirt. My clean beach is hardly recognizable.
What happened here? Did the sea vomit all the dirt we keep on throwing into it? Or did it only mean to clean itself and with us human keeping on dumping our dirt all over Nature, Nature is saying” I have no choice, in order to clean everything from the dirt you throw at me lot of turbulence is needed. Look man this is the result of your insensitive behavior.”
Or maybe it was Nature saying: I have had enough of your behavior towards each other and towards me. There is no love and respect to nothing and nobody, maybe a little disaster will bring you together, will create healthier relationships, for you will understand and appreciate being human.
Or was it Nature saying you are not respecting my laws of love and consideration and respect towards all my elements and so now I’ll also treat you the same so that you learn, Allas the hard way.
Or maybe Nature is telling us “You thought you were the master, and wanted to use everybody everything and me included for your selfish purposes? Now maybe you will understand that you are integrated in me, you are only one of my elements and thus have to go according to my laws? The laws of giving of caring, of helping each other, of respect.”
Or maybe it was only a storm, and tomorrow is here to come and we can go with our business as usual? Would this be a responsible behavior, with no accountability?
The thoughts are racing in my head.
Cosney Island: the steel parachute is standing high in the air. The rides are there. I smile. The children will be happy.
In a playground that has been clean, people are playing handball. Life is taking over after all.
The benches didn’t move, they are all here. I sit on one of them and look at the horizon, at the calm and beautiful sea.
What is the answer? Probably a little bit of everything. Yes we became insensitive to each other, yes we used everybody and everything for our sole interest, yes we ignored nature laws of giving and respect and consideration.
Will we able to understand, to comprehend the meaning of it all? Will we able to change our ways even for a little tiny bit? Or will Nature come bacK to haunt us again?