Withholding Judgment

One tries not to judge such sights as a young man unleashing his two big dogs on the beach; the dogs go wild, run, jump, dash, dig, swim, tussle and try to engage the man in play; he is on his phone the whole time and not taking pictures of his dogs; he ignores the dogs and the ocean.

But he was there, the ocean was there, and he did bring his dogs and let them run free. He did take off his socks and shoes (something I never do).

There is skepticism in my skepticism of this man. There is curiosity and empathy. I’m beginning to see anew at the beach and in life. How many of us get to say that?

His walk lasted 20 minutes. He leashed his mutts and they made their way through the crumbling jetty and back to his big truck in the parking lot. (I had followed them from there.)

That 20 minutes might have saved the man. Perhaps it wasn’t about the dogs. Perhaps he was in crisis and needed the ocean to survive.

I know something about that.

A greater power lies in observation and questioning than generalization and judgment. It’s how I want to live and write these days.

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