On Parsons Beach

One of my favorite places in the world is a semi-private beach in Kennebunk, Maine where, after a short walk across the sand, you come upon a massive, rocky promontory jutting out into the open ocean.  Most of the rocks are boulders, really – some the size of a small vehicle and far heavier.  At high tide, only the rim of the formation – where the rocks are sharp and forbidding - is visible; as the tide recedes, it reveals a somewhat friendlier herd of slick black beasts whose bodies have been softened and rounded by the timeless visitation of the waves. 

What strikes me anew with each visit to this special place is the silent story told by the stones.  It is a story of cruelty, danger, and violence rendered hospitable by gentleness; it is a story of Peace.  Because, as the rocks above the water line attest, these smooth stones once presented sharp resistance to any who dared confront them  - whether on foot or by craft. 

It was just water – simple, pliant, insistent – that rounded the sharp edges, sculpted the venom out of those stones.  It was just water – seemingly no force to contend with the massive intransigence of boulders flung into place eons ago with a snap of some celestial wrist.  Just water -  moved by its own undeniable life force - returning again, and again, and again, and yet again - for however long it took - to love the pain out of those giant, stolid stones. 

And isn’t this the only path we will ever know to a true and lasting Peace? For those who carry its standard to move with a relentless gentleness, around and into and through the resistance of the world’s accumulated hate?

So this is my wish for you, this is my wish for me: to be one drop in that ceaseless sea; to arise in briny, white joyfulness and flow around and into and through the sharp, hard places of the world; to arise and embrace, arise and embrace; to recede knowing that though it may be imperceptible to us, the piercing edges have been somehow softened by our presence, knowing that we will continue, with the inexorable, breathing rhythm of the sea, until the world knows no jagged stones.  And this will be our species’ most magnificent co-creation:  this will be The Great Peace.