Individuals who live by the beach are different from those who do not. I’ve always believed this. When I was a child my parents would pack the family into the station wagon to drive to the beach, and we would see a change in the general ways of people as we moved out of suburbia and closer to the surf, the sand, and the tide.
The road that led us to the Pacific Ocean wasn’t a freeway. It was a surface street that took us through suburbia. The closer we approached, the more we would notice distinct changes in people, places, and things.
We often stopped at a particular liquor store where we would pick up sodas and assortments of snack foods. It was very close to the beach—a few miles away—and here we caught our first glimpse of the milder attitudes near the water.
“Don’t worry about it. Pay me next time.”
“Hang loose, dude.”
Of course, this wasn’t the first thing we noticed as the salty air began to reach our noses. Pants became shorts. Shoes became flip-flops. Dress became a very informal means of exhibition. It wasn’t just a seasonal custom, it was a permanent form of expression, adding to the coastal dialect.
This way of life, this beach culture, isn’t lackadaisical. It’s a sort of relaxed sense of contentment, a feeling that the world is as it should be when most believe it’s not. My theory is that the ocean is to blame. I believe that the sand, the waves, and the ocean influence the psychology of those who live close to them.
You could suffer the stress of work in the city but have a home life near the beach and still be overcome by this relaxed subculture. If you don’t believe this: go to the beach, sit in the sand, stare into the ocean, and listen to the waves. Write down how you feel after half an hour.
I’m not sure where I heard the following, but I know I heard it from someone, somewhere, in the not-too-distant past. The ocean is the world’s largest tranquilizer.
I believe this because personal experience and history suggests it, and because I also believe you would be hard pressed to find beach people more stressed than their urban (or suburban) neighbors.
Copyright © Tyler Gant 2009
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