Friday, July 13, 2007

Tides



You feel it when it comes. A hush of stillness drifts into your life, the waters calm, then the direction of all motion shifts.

Slow at first, it builds. Confusion yields to power. The power yields to focus.

The current flows, and you dare to ride again.

Today I took part in a retirement celebration for a health care executive who served his hospital for thirty years. There were light moments and wonderful pictures through the years, but underneath, the tide was changing.

Do you feel the tides rush at your feet? Do you see the distortions pulled in the sand?

Hear the roar of the tides. It's a blessing clothed in a curse.

12 comments:

SzélsőFa said...

Hello, long time visitor delurks here.
I've been long enjoying your writing, insight and photographs.
But it was not until this very sentence ***It's a blessing clothed in a curse.****
that I felt compelled to comment.
This really touched me for I am experiencing some sort of a problem these days, and I do not believe in coincidence. This sentence, although I might have heard it said in other forms, came right when I needed it.
It's not like the last chance or anything, but still it is of great help.

Anonymous said...

SzélsőFa, first, I'm grateful to have given you something you needed to hear. Each time I start a post like this, I begin to wonder whether I should put these thoughts out there at all. But then, they always seem to mean something to someone. It's very humbling to me. **Second, I'm so glad you commented!! I've noticed your visits, and since some of my own heritage is from Hungary, I couldn't help but wonder. I'm very glad to meet you!

Scott said...

The same line resonated with me as well. Changes are usually a curse to someone or some group. The industrial revolution for instance, put millions out of work; but at the same time... I feel the same way about outsourcing now. It has hurt me, or at least taken me down a few pegs. I even feared that I would have to change careers. But who's to say what advantage it will create? It brings jobs to poor countries that didn't have a chance to compete before ( I'm being a sport here -- I'm not sure what I believe ).

Kim said...

". . . blessing clothed in a curse." So true, even though many times we're unable to see the blessing until we've worked our way through the curse and are looking back in retrospect.

The Quoibler said...

Retirement.

That's one change I don't ever want to experience. (At least not retirement from writing or performing.)

How about you?

Angelique

Anonymous said...

Scott, very true. Sometimes the tide that rolls in is one tide too many. A person can choose to drown.

Kaycie, I suppose we've achieved something when we have the inner calm to accept the change before it's finished happening.

Angelique, I'd love to retire from law right now, but I don't see that happening. ;) No, I would never retire from creativity. What a gift it would be to able to create full time and be paid for it.

Suzan Abrams, email: suzanabrams@live.co.uk said...

Yes, I love the sea, Jason.
Metaphorically speaking for what the tides signify here in an individual's life and also the rhythmic magnitude of its real hum in the ocean.

rel said...

Jason,
Powerful piece here. Pulling at my thoughts, dissembling and reforming. Too deep for me to comment immediately, I'm going to put pen to paper and sea what the tide of thought brings in.
I liked the photo a lot. Especially the 765 KV line juxtasupposed with the rural buclic scene of our yesterdays (change).
I'm glad I stopped by today, good coffee and great dialog!
rel

Jeff said...

Good piece, Jason. It seems to me the older I get the faster time moves. And with the moving time come changes. Some good, some not so good.
I like the metaphor of the tide.

Vixen said...

"Hear the roar of the tides. It's a blessing clothed in a curse."

Poignant. Good.

Anonymous said...

Suzan, beautiful words, my friend. Tides are cycles, but our own cycles do not renew. Not for us individually. Rebirth only comes in the cycle of generations.

Remimen, I hope to see what the pen and paper and quiet moment of thought produces! Thanks for the compliment on the picture. It's a striking mixture, especially the sky. I take photos like this from a moving car. I never know how they will turn out.

Jeff, great to see you. Time slowed for me with very young children. Now as they get older, I'm wondering if the passage of time will get faster.

Vixen, it's bittersweet. When I see the tide change, for a while I can only think of what has washed away.

mermaid said...

Wonderful metaphor. The shift in awareness is so subtle. If you can learn to be pulled in the tides direction without resistance, you're ahead of most people:)