NOV. 6, 1964
Theme of the Week
By Dan Colvin
The night was warm; a soft breeze fingered through the palm trees in the sand. The waves gently met the shore in their timeless routine of advancing and retreating. Along the line where sea and sand met, a man walked slowly, thinking about the man and men like him.
The man felt close to the land but strangely apart from the sea. His life was dependent on the land; the sea had no effect on him. As he walked in the sand, he thought of the success he had made of his business and his family. Immortality was insured to the man; he had left his mark on the world.
Other people too had left their mark on this beach. Many lovers had strolled in the soft moonlight; countless proposals had been accepted as the waves beat silently on the shore. Armies, too, had landed on the beach to fight for one eternal cause or another, only to be met by armies who had landed before them.
The sea, on the other hand, felt apart from the man and his earth. Men had tried to tame it, but the sea remained its own master. Men had been able to ride over the sea, but they still had never been able to control it. The sea mocked man's might by ruining entire navies with a single slash of its waves. Many men had tried to write their name in the sea's water.
The man finished his trip down the beach. The footprints he made covered those of the lovers, armies, and pleasure seekers before him. The sea however, was still keeping its vigil; it remained in its timeless routine. Even as the man left, the sea had already erased his foot-prints as it had done to the others before his. The beach and waves again looked as they did when there was only sea and sand.
