pay attention

We walked down the beach on the sand as the tide moved out toward the ocean. 

I held Zeke's hand, and talked with him about sea things. 

"I didn't know jelly fish swam this close to the shore during the spring.

I bet that drift wood is as old as 'The Old Man and the Sea.’

I think a horseshoe crab's blood can be used to treat cancer."

"Look," I said.

"What is it?” he asked.

I picked up a shell out of the deep, cool sand and held it in my open hand.

It was unlike any shell we had ever seen. 

There were two shells, one on the top and it's twin on the bottom, connected at the back, and clammed up tightly in the front.

"It's a clam!" I said.

"Is it alive?" he asked.

"I don't know," I answered. 

"Let's take a look and find out."

We took our shovel, and made our way to the shore line where the waves came to an end at the sand and ran back to the sea. 

I dug a small hole.

Zeke scratched out a little trench.

We placed the clam into the sandy water habitat.

We sat quietly.

We watched intently.

Children played around us. 

Families played in the surf. 

People relaxed in the sun.

Slowly, the clam opened and closed itself, almost imperceptibly, and left a small bubble to show us it was still alive.

"Did you see that? 

It's still living!" I exclaimed.

"Wow, we did something nice for that clam," Zeke said. 

"I wonder what nice thing it's going to do for us? 

Maybe it'll make us a pearl.”

The little clam did give us a pearl. 

It reminded me of something I learned from the great Irish writer George Bernard Shaw. 

He taught that in a world where the law of ‘survival of the fittest’ is in effect, where only the strong survive, there is a law of kindness in effect, too, where the smallest and most forgotten things live out commitment, creativity and compassion for the world.

 Life is in that kindness.

We saw that kindness today. 

We were part of it’s heart.