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Pure Joy

It makes sense that sea water is therapeutic. People are drawn to beach and can't wait to return each year when the season is warm. There are memories from the time on the water we carry for the time between trips. The salt, water, sand, breeze and sun are like ingredients of which the dish of happiness is made.

And there is no better treat that to watch children squealing with joy as they run back and forth into the waves. Some are content to collect shells or build sand-castles - they are no less happy than those in the water, just differently so. It is probably impossible for an adult to plunge into the experience of the beach in the way a child can. Tagore's poem On the Seashore is a wonderful celebration of this.

They know not how to swim, they know not how to cast nets. Pearl-fishers dive for pearls, merchants sail in their ships, while children gather pebbles and scatter them again. They seek not for hidden treasures, they know not how to cast nets.
The sea surges up with laughter, and pale gleams the smile of the sea-beach. Death-dealing waves sing meaningless ballads to the children, even like a mother while rocking her baby's cradle. The sea plays with children, and pale gleams the smile of the sea-beach.

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