Living Beach, Isle of Palms, South Carolina, USA

I have walked along this beach perhaps a hundred times so far - almost every day, multiple times a day, many miles. In the past I've thought of the beach as a fairly static place - sand and water. But lately I've come to view the beach as a living entity, changing daily from the effects of the sun, moon, tides, currents.  Sometimes there are gullies, sandbars, rivulets, gentle tides, storm tides, winds, waves, birds, mollusks, jellyfish, shells.  Sometimes the beach slopes perfectly from the high tide line to the low tide line with smooth and hard walkable sand.  But at all times, the beach serves as the buffer, the interface, the mediator between the hard earth and the liquid water.  The sand ever changes to absorb the pounding surf, protecting the land mass, constantly being resculpted. It is a fascinating dynamic system always at work. The beach marks nature's flexible seam between the land and the ocean. I like the beach. I can learn from the beach - like how to reconcile opposing forces. Maybe our politicians should go to the beach instead of Washington, DC.