Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Footprints

When the air gets really cold the sand along the 
high tide line freezes.  When that happens there 
are no footprints on the frozen sand.  Sounds rather
obvious but I suspect there are lots of people for whom
 the idea of frozen sand is a novel concept.

As I walked along the beach today, on the hard frozen
sand, I got to thinking  a lot about footprints.  Much is written
these days about all sorts of footprints. Understanding the
"footprint" concept has become an important part of our
environmental awareness.  Do you know your carbon footprint,
your water footprint, the footprints of the clothes you wear or
items you consume? We need to at least understand the
concept and think about these footprints and their impact.

I saw a sign at that read "leave only footprints".  I know that
the sign was intended to urge  us not to leave our trash behind. 
Not a bad idea even in  the most general meaning of the word
trash,  but that sign got me thinking about footprints in yet
another way.  What footprints will you leave behind for your
children, grandchildren? My friend CJ Olivares likes to say he
wants to leave the world better than he found it. He take steps 
to do so, hopes to leave his own footprints.

What footprints are you making as you walk through your
life, what footprints will you be leaving behind? It's kind of
unusual and rare for the sand to be frozen like it was today.
It's really rare that we make no footprints.

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