It is high tide. The waves are coming ashore and retreating back to the ocean. Each time they invade the shore a little more. A small piece of tree branch, old, alone and weather beaten is lying on the sand with a little distance from the shoreline. It takes a while before the first wave gets to it and wets it. As time goes by, and the waves get more aggressive, the wood, weak and defenceless is taken by waves but waves are not strong enough to take it, so the wood is rejected and returned to the shore again, yet left closer to ocean. This dance between wood and waves goes on for quite a while, the play of waves taking the wood into themselves and rejecting it again and returning it to the shore.
Finally, a small piece of wood is broken and taken by waves and while still floating on water, is getting further away from its bigger piece. And then, the waves are becoming stronger, larger and invading the shore more. The wood is now under waves that suddenly rushed over the sand and with one motion retreating to ocean and with them, goes the wood. I see the two pieces of wood, separate, on the water getting further and further away from the shore.
I cannot stop thinking how the lives of so many of us are analogous to this interplay of waves and wood. Sometimes we are taken by some unpredictable and uncontrollable event, tragedy, loss, disaster, and just like with the high tide taken into the ocean against our best efforts and will. With the low tide we are left somewhere but not where we were originally. And then again as we try to settle on the shore however closer to ocean yet still on the shore, the high tide arrives and we go thru the same process once again until finally there is no chance of getting back to shore. The ocean has taken us and we are floating or drowning. There is no power to resist the waves of ocean as there is no power to resist or fight the waves of misfortunes in lives of so many people in the world.
This reminds me of what became of Al Franken, the Democratic Senator from Minnesota who was taken by the high tide of #MeToo movement in 2017. His demise came about with publication of one photo taken many years before when he performed as comedian. The context around the photo and timing of it and how and why it was taken were not paid attention to. Senate Ethics Committee Hearing never took place and in three weeks, after accusation of misconduct he was forced out of Senate in December 2017. No one came to his defense even female senators who knew Al Franken was a defender of women’s rights. And yet, some colleagues of him and politicians, with worse crimes are still at their jobs doing harm. The unfairness of it all is just like the blind high tide that takes everything in and destroys.