I don’t know if you can see the kelp beds in this photo, but trust me, they’re out there. All you can see from shore is a dark mass. Looking out at them makes me miss the aquarium. There is a wonderful exhibit - the kelp forest. I can stare at it for hours, watching the sunlight play on the water and the kelp, looking for the fish that are hiding, being mesmerized by the movement of the kelp in the current. This beauty is what I remember when I see the dark blob in the distance. There is so much going on under the water. Knowing what some of it makes me feel connected in some way to something very foreign and largely inaccessible.
There is a lot of ugliness in the world right now, much of it because we see “them” as blobs in the distance, foreign and inaccessible. And we can ascribe to them any characteristics we want, and few of them will be true. But “they” are not blobs in the distance any more than the kelp forest is. All It takes is curiosity and a little effort to begin to understand more than just the surface of another person, or group of people. Can we overcome our fear to venture out? Can we admit there is something to learn? Do we have the courage to try?