Thursday, January 07, 2021

At the windswept edge of America

Not your typical beach day
Jensen Beach, FL
December 2017
This photo originally shared on Instagram


Three years ago, I stood on a windswept beach in Florida as the setting sun cast ever longer shadows over the sand.

Small groups of people were spread out at distant intervals for as far as the eye could see. Some had cast fishing lines into the heavy surf, while others idly strolled past them. It wasn’t your typical beach day, but it was immensely comforting all the same to just stand amid the stinging sand and drink it in.

After I finished shooting this photo, I tucked the camera away and closed my eyes. I thought about all those people in the distance, enjoying this extraordinary place in much the same way that I was. We were all privileged to be experiencing this small sliver of normality, one of countless scenes playing out in this impossibly rich, diverse land.

Yesterday was an ugly day in the history of this land, a stain in the richness and diversity that have always underpinned what she stands for. And for some reason the freshly minted chaotic scenes from a crowded city took me right back to the decidedly less chaotic, less crowded scene from three years earlier.

America was beautiful that day. She still is. Indeed, she’s always been.

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