“Morning by morning, new mercies I see.”
I suppose it is like a pastor to begin a musing with an old hymn, yet a walk on the beach at dawn brought “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” to mind.
Something about the sand swept clean of all footprints, a blank slate on which to begin the day. The dog was more interested in the smells, and I was pleased to oblige and stop every ten feet or so for her to investigate. She sniffed too hard and got sand up her nose. Her sneezes are adorable.
I came back to the rental house and poured another cup of coffee. On the deck, I heard a chorus of finches and sparrows and the descent of the mourning dove. A grackle flew to a telephone wire (yes, those lines still exist) and performed a raspy, Dylan-esque solo. This loud, fierce-looking, glossy blackbird brought something else to mind.
Yesterday, I had to leave the peaceful south end of the island to procure groceries in the touristy city. Vacationers had already crowded the streets for the Fourth of July.
I happened to witness a couple of guys wearing hats emblazoned with the Confederate flag drinking beer outside a bar when a young Black man strolled right past them, shoulders back, chest out, and gaze ahead. The drinking buddies fell silent and looked down. Perhaps it was only my imagination that they felt a sense of shame.
However, I believe that most people (perhaps even all of us) have a part that recognizes when we wear masks of bravado, fakery, and foolishness to justify our anxieties and fears; this part, no matter how deep and buried, understands that all life is a gift not limited to nation or race but extended by a mercy greater than all the grains of sand on every beach in this wonderful world.
Andrew Taylor-Troutman is the author of the book with Wipf and Stock Publishers titled This Is the Day: A Year of Observing Unofficial Holidays about Ampersands, Bobbleheads, Buttons, Cousins, Hairball Awareness, Humbugs, Serendipity, Star Wars, Teenagers, Tenderness, Walking to School, Yo-Yos, and More. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina where he is a student of joy.
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