Life in Bloom

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty." -Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi begs us not to lose faith in humanity, describing humanity as an ocean that's not entirely dirty. However, I didn't understand what he meant, until I was surrounded by it.
Pressing close to the nose of the ship, the sky and water blend together in an endless expanse of blue. The wind runs its fingers through my hair and throws it against my face, aglow in the screaming sun. Waves crash around themselves as though they have no idea what they're meant to be.

I always thought he meant that we aren't a bad people just because some of us are bad, and I always disagreed. I thought that humanity was doomed, that our shared human nature was in itself, corrupt. I was wrong. Nobody is a bad person, because the drops are not individual people. The ocean is each of us as a whole, our humanity in one great swirling blue. We may have bad parts, but we're not bad people.

On the beach, I kneel in the warm sand, and scoop up water between my fingers. It sparkles in the light. Spreading my fingers, it trickles back, glittering like jewels, and is quickly lost in the ocean. I stand, and slowly take a step into the inviting waves. The warm water laps around my ankles. I walk farther, until all but my head is submerged. With a sharp breath, I let the water cover me, and I'm suspended in the brilliance of it, bobbing up and down with its current as it pleases.
People behave with the same acceptance, but only if you're willing to swim out far enough.

Back at home, I return once again to the English room on the top floor, and a glimmer from the window catches my fancy. I turn, and gasp as a realize all the trees have grown back their leaves. The decrepit branches have been replaced by those with a renewed promise of life. Each boasts its own colors, shaking gently in the light breeze. I never realized how beautiful life was in bloom.