I Believe in the Ocean

This is a really rough draft, and is probably not what I am going to end up using. I just don’t really understand “This I believe” as a genre and can’t wrap my head around it. So this piece is terrible, but it was posted before the deadline, so that’s good right?

The first thing you do when you get to the beach is run down to the water to feel the ocean for the first time. In the euphoria of running to have your toes caress the frigid water, you miss the broken piece of shell in your path. Before you can even touch the water, you are doubled over in pain grasping your throbbing foot. Once you finally compose yourself and get back up, the pain from sand entering the cut on the bottom of your foot is excruciating, but you push through it to get to your final destination. Each step pushes grains of sand further and further into your foot, until finally you reach the water. Once your feet touch the bone chilling water, all of your pain goes away. As you head deeper into the water, you feel the once painful cut feel almost soothing. By the time you leave the beach, you can barely feel the cut. It was like it never happened. As your week goes on, the cut heals faster than any cut you’ve ever had before.

I believe in the power of the ocean. People have used the ocean for almost everything. Many civilizations throughout history have looked at the ocean as a source of life and vitality. It provided a means for exploration and supported us. Today, it still supports us. People use the calming sound of the ocean to fall asleep, others use the ocean to support their careers and their way of life. Other people use it as a source of stress relief. Everyone uses the ocean differently, but we all have a weird connection with the ocean. A connection that not all of us understand. The ocean is a friend who is always there. We can abuse it and it can abuse us, but we still go back.

The ocean is my source of solitude. I use it to be by myself and for entertainment. The cooling waters that run over my body seem to clear all negative attitudes out of me. After what I thought was the worst day of my life a few summers ago, I went to the ocean. I wasn’t sure what to expect, I just needed a friend who was there for me. After hours by myself, everything seemed to be okay. My life didn’t stink as much and I got much happier.

People underestimate the power of the ocean. They’d rather dump their trash and sewage waste into it than use it the way it had been used for centuries before. Instead of trying to ignore it, we need to look back to our roots and admire the ocean for what it is. It can help us through the worst of situations and the best of situations. It can heal us and entertain us.