There are times when you really feel satisfied. In the world in which we live, those moments are fleeting and rare. So the memories of friends and places we've lived are remembered through events that stick out on the electro cardiogram of our life. Usually both good and bad. However last Saturday evening, was one of those positive experiences, that seemed under the guise of the ordinary turned out to be extraordinary.
I didn't solve cancer. Not on that level. But something just as great was the condition of the human heart. Donald Miller believes that at the very core, humans need to be accepted. Whether I get some fake boobs, or a born to lose tattoo to get that acceptance is up to me. But its the driving emotive response to living in an impersonal world. Here in such an urban environment with people surrounded by glass, silicone, and that black stripe of sunglasses, we close off to each other because this is the norm. We are the stonemasons of our psyche, erecting invisible walls of our perceived image we wish to broadwave across the masses. But for a few short evening hours, it seemed that our planet became a little closer.
All it took was a phone call, an rough plan, and a few txt messages and the plan was set in place. The instruments that got us there, were gas powered vehicles, cell phone towers, iphones, Google Maps, GPS enabled cars, digital watches and 7 dollars to park. But once there, everyone systematically put their phones in places where the sand doesn't destroy, unpacked salsa, guacamole, hotdogs, and gatorade. They rolled out blankets, took out footballs, threw frisbees, and played bocci. It is in the context of these evening hours where complete strangers identified with one another, understood common interest, realized common origins, and in a word bonded with one another.
The mysticism of the fire is shallow to the amount of conversation and communion it brings to the beholder. Because across Los Angeles County Fire Pits we look at one another from the glow as we glance back to our hotdog or marshmallow enjoying the simplicity of the time and reveling in fond memories of our past.
The feeling of barefeet on the sand during a get together is probably the most relaxing image I can think of. The weather is warm enough, the shoes are inconvenient, and the status quo is non-existent. It is an ideal place to reconnect because it allows you to shed some of the qualities of our modern life to be receptive to the human at hand.
You would think living in LA for two years we would have at least done this before, and the truth is we had, but there was something magical about this experience because of the amount of likemindness that encircled the group.
I think of Daniel Laruso playing soccer at the beach in Karate Kid, and how the sun allows for activities and fun(much like what we did) and the evening allows for reflection and relaxing(again just like us). It has become apparent to me in this experience that I am blessed. I knew that before, but now I know for sure.
Because the idea of community is growing here in LA. And the thing that made me hate this place in our early two years, about not being able to connect with individuals, is the reason why I am beginning to fall for this place. It is these expectations of joy and the avenues to get it that I'm finally finding hiding in the very relationships I have already.
