Of late, I’ve been wondering if I’ve gone to sleep and awakened to find myself in another dimension. The thawing of conservative attitudes has overwhelmed my powers of belief. Yet the thawing is real and I see glimpses of a glorious world forming. Iran and the West have agreed to a nuclear armaments deal. The Greek crisis has been settled — or imposed, depending on one’s point of view. What’s more, the US Supreme Court appears to have been sipping Kool-Aid this past session. It supported same sex marriage, the Affordable Care Act and ruled as lawful legislation that would make it difficult for political parties to gerrymander voting districts. Is it any wonder I suspect I’ve stepped through the looking glass?
Taking down the Confederate flag from state capitals is an action which may have come at the price of a church massacre, but the decision brought the nation a step closer toward improved race relations.
With so much promise on the world stage, I’m not surprised few noticed a small stroke for justice that occurred in a small community in California. Having grown up in the area, I remembered it as a place with two public beaches for working families to enjoy. Otherwise, a person could drive north and south for miles and never glimpse the waters of the Pacific. The super rich had been allowed to buy beach property — which they did in great numbers — until the view along highway 101 was a wall of bungalows displaying signs which read “no trespass.”
Last week the elected leaders of the small city of Malibu, decreed the area known as “Billionaires’ Beach” would no longer exist. The water front, they said belonged to the public — something Oregonians have known for decades. Reading their decision, I admit my eyes misted. As a poor kid, I never saw that beach. A sense of justice washed over me. Another vote for decency. Another corner of the world became a better place. (”News,” The Week, July 17, 2015, pg. 6)
Courtesy of malibubeachsoberliving.org
