Saturday, April 2, 2011

A Day at the Beach....

It was a glorious day at the beach today. I'm so enjoying our warm sunny Southern CA weather hoping it will last a little longer.

Upon our arrivial, I noticed a (about 9 year old) kid take off and run from his parents to the Lifeguard Tower while the parents weren't looking.....panicked parents calling for him...becoming more panicked that he was in the water drowning....father getting angrier and angrier, yelling louder and louder, not asking if anyone had seen him, not thinking about how his voice is affecting anyone...not thinking that had the kid been in the water...the lifeguards would have noticed....kid comes running back...the father with a mouth on him screams after the kid...and the nervously laughing kid runs from his father, knowing full well what his father will do...and it's not hug him. He slams the child's body into the ground...flattens him out like a pancakes and with his 300 lb torso, presses his knees into the boy's back while taking his long arm 3' up in the air...slamming it down on his son's rear end 3 times as the boy's two young siblings (about 2 years and 4 years of age) watch. He then rips him off the ground and the crying child gets no sympathy from his mother who continues the process, screaming at him, grounding him from every possible thing in his life...telling him what could've happened to him. Now I understand their being upset....but never once....did they put their arms around that boy and tell him they were glad he was okay....never once....did they take responsibility for not watching him.....all they did was to show him anger, hatred and instill fear.... and instill a lot of negative attention.... and tell the two young children that their brother is fine. Where was the love?

In the next moment....I see a young hispanic father with his two 18 month old children....and 8 of his friends playing on the beach. The father lovingly walks hand in hand with his children to the shoreline....and as the water washes over their feet, the children squeal with delight and a big smile breaks out on the father's face. Next to them, the 8 men sit in the water as though they were young children, awaiting the wave, laughing every time it sweeps over them; pure joy.

What a pleasure it was to leave the beach today with that picture in my head instead of the first.....I wanted to thank them for that gift.

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