An Ocean Away....

I don't live by the ocean. There are a variety of reasons for that. I guess the most obvious is that I grew up in the midwest and the midwest has grown on me. I love the change of seasons and would miss that if I took up residence elsewhere. Beyond that, though, I love to visit the ocean and in fact we have our favorite place outside of Fort Myers, FL on a little island called Captiva. I wouldn't want to be without Captiva, for it calms my soul, however.....I have healthy respect for the ocean.

I love watching the water and hearing the waves lap the shore. I am awestruck by the glorious sunsets over the Gulf of Mexico, each evening seemingly from a different painter's pallette. I am amazed as I gaze out from my calm spot on the sandy beach and see storms out on the sea where lightning charges from the sky to touch the water. There is sweet pleasure in seeing the dolphins swim up and down the shore and frolic in the water. Who could ever express the wonder of seeing a nest of turtles burst from the sand and make their way into the mighty ocean? There are no words for that kind of stuff. I wouldn't want to do without any of these things and yet.....I don't want to live there.

The ocean is a powerful thing, to be respected at the very least. I tend to get a little uneasy when we are on the island and a storm blows in. Then there is the hurricane. I have been watching with saddened interest as the small, poor nation of Haiti gets battered and battered again. In some form of tropical storm to hurricance there has been Dolly, Fay, Gustav, Hannah and now Ike that have affected Haiti. The flooding is devastating. More than 600 people have died and 200,000 are without food, clean water and shelter, some of them for four days already. There has been no time between storms to recover and even if there was time, there isn't really any way.

The Haitians live with the ocean all around them. It is their home, just like the midwest is mine. Even if they wanted to most could not leave their island home. They are too poor. It is the poorest of countries. The ocean and the storms typical of warm ocean waters have their way with them. My heart is heavy for Haiti and it's people this day. God, give them respite from the storm. Send your people to help, including me, even though I feel an ocean away.