Footprints and Sandpipers

FOOTPRINTS AND SANDPIPERS On a recent walk along the beach…where the ocean meets the land what captured my attention were all the footprints in the sand. We watched sandpipers darting to and fro tiptoeing between the water and the land pursuing their next meal…leaving tiny footprints in the sand. We saw people walking, families playing, children making castles with their hands. while others laughed, or ran, or skipped…leaving footprints in the sand. It wasn’t just how many there were…spreading out across the land It was also the diversity…of those footprints in the sand. I kept wondering…were they young or old… gay or straight black or white… was it a woman or a man who walked this beach before us and left these footprints in the sand? As you walk along the beach you feel a harmony with the sky…the sea…the land… and that day I felt that same harmony with those footprints in the sand. And I had to smile as we walked…thinking…wouldn’t it be grand… if the only way to judge a person…was by their footprints in the sand? Would there be prejudice and bigotry? Would people be ridiculed…or banned If the only way to judge them was from their footprints in the sand? And I wondered if we should all be more like sandpipers who, as they scamper, dash and stand, tread softly and live in harmony… while making footprints in the sand. Who understand the key to life is to live nobly and dignified and grand… before our time is up and the tide washes away our footprints in the sand.