Making Connection

I don’t like walking the beach but the seafront;

I can’t swim but take pleasure in soaking my feet in the waves;

I ‘m not interested in sea cruises but enjoy watching the churning white water at the tail of a sailing ship.

Why? That must be to do with my genes passing down from my ancestral origin. I believe the sea is where we came from and so did other living creatures. It is the beginning and possibly the final destination. Having such a belief, I am amazed why I never succeed in learning to swim. As a consolation, I do acquire the skills to dive, just deep sea diving without surfacing though.

On the third day afternoon of this Lunar New Year, I took the liberty to have a lazy stroll along the nearby seafront, to break away from the daily demands of living. It was still unusually cold but I made the correct decision as there were few people as crazy as I were and most of the businesses were still closed.

The wind was brisk and piercing; the sky was dull and gloomy. In return, I was welcomed by a free choral concert by the sea gulls together with a display of flickering green and blue colours from the jittering sea. I felt connected somehow. Connection and finding it, I believe, was the original reason I was there then.

Well, that particular connection didn’t last too long. The grey palette changed into a colourful and gigantic exhibition of objects and installations, each telling a great story of mankind and how their makers are connecting with the sea.

I feel let down whenever I look at these pictures taken on that cold grey afternoon.  I am sorry not because of the floating rubbish but why I would bother to take these images instead of the things I set off to. I am so disappointed how easily I can break the connection with the things I most yearn for and lose focus on what is already in my hands. A scar on the face of a beauty always gets the most attention, not the fine curve of her cheeks, the suppleness of her lips or the silkiness of her skin. That should explain the unconscious battle I lost while taking those pictures. In a way they represent how usually we connect with the sea - our origin and future destination. We eagerly take what we are given of from her. In return, we prize her with what we once desired most and what we are most apt to produce but without asking if they are wanted. I am ashamed that I even found beauties in some of these pictures. How pathetic!

Many a time, being disoriented in the flow of time, I still long for reconnecting with the sea. There must be better ways to do so. Surely, walking the seafront and watching the white churning water are ways I can enjoy. Hope that I can hang on to it. How about yours?