A Photo From Paul

Yesterday when Paul Brent sent me a photograph of jars of fresh Willapa Bay oysters for sale at his local SAM store in Florida, it was a visceral reminder of … what? Of our instant communication abilities? Of our shared experiences and appetites? Of our global oneness? I’m not just talking friends and oysters and email here. I’m talking strangers and world markets and cyberspace. Maybe even the good, the bad, and the ugly.

My thoughts/emotions ran the gamut. I was delighted to hear from Paul and pleased that ‘our’ Willapa Bay products are available at the other edge of our continent. I felt a little dismay, too, to get a visual reminder of what I’ve known for decades – that it’s no longer necessary to travel to far and exotic places (like Oysterville!) to get an actual taste of another way of life. And, I was once again unnerved by the thought that in this twenty-first century we have totally accomplished making ourselves desirable, accessible and vulnerable.

So what else is new? Not even the rhetoric surrounding our ‘vetting’ of refugees is new. It’s all I can do to watch the news and hear what some of our ‘leaders’ are suggesting. Whatever happened to Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free? Whatever happened to the only thing we have to fear is fear itself?

Those are a lot of heavy thoughts triggered by an email photograph of a few jars of oysters! Unfortunately, I don’t know if there is a pearl just beyond reach – that pearl of wisdom that we so desperately need right now. If only…