With All the Divisions, East Enders Can Always Rally Around Preserving the Ocean

The most recent hotly contested national presidential election has only highlighted the extent of the division in the country as a whole. The future is not easily predictable, with so many cross cutting cleavages at play. Emotions are still at a feverish pitch on all sides. However, on the East End there is one uniting factor the whole nation does not have, that being the peacefulness, the majesty, the beauty and the awesome power of the mighty Atlantic Ocean and its beaches.

Everyone can admit that throughout his or her lives the ocean is an important ingredient of living on the East End. It’s always just right there to drive up to and sip a coffee, make a call, take a walk, sit and relax, take a swim, go for a surf, do some fishing, and most of all, enjoy. A beautiful day at the beach is a gift all East Enders get as part of the deal of living in a semi secluded peninsula with only one major road in and out.

Many things divide everyone these days, immigration, taxes, employment, health care, school issues, and so forth but at the beach everyone seem to be on their best behavior because enjoying the power of the ocean is a tradition that has to go back to the first men who lived on the East End, whenever that was. These first humans looked at the sunrises, the sunsets, the full moons and the amazing stars as well as the great rainstorms and wind storms with the same amazement we do thousands of years later.

Every elected official easily understands the importance of protecting the ocean shoreline. It is something everyone can rally around. When recent errors where no doubt done in pursuit of a good cause in Montauk, the town leaders as well as all residents had to be rooting for a best outcome. I, for one, would rather have been wrong and have had the measures taken by the town been totally successful, rather than have been right with a bad outcome. Now I feel all are united to get to that best outcome. There is no one answer on how to harness Mother Nature’s unlimited powers, but there are hopeful measures to use science beneficially for better short and long term outcomes.

During my mother's last years she sat with me on the bench at Ditch Plains Beach in Montauk unable to walk very far due to lung cancer. She looked out at the ocean and spoke of my dad fishing along this very shore with all four of his sons on board his 43’ Egg Harbor named after her (Lady Elizabeth).

She spoke of her visits to the ocean with her four sisters as children on hot days before air conditioning. She told me to appreciate the time I was having living in Montauk along the ocean. Although she was in pain, the ocean breeze, sounds and presence soothed her soul and gave her a unique peace. She would travel 100 miles once a month all year round to sit on that bench. Later I learned, when I moved a bit up island she sat there sometimes alone. I hope to have the honor to spend my last days on that very same bench sometime in the future. That is why I care about preserving the pristine qualities of the ocean beaches of Montauk and East Hampton Town.

This post is contributed by a community member. The views expressed in this post are the author's. Registered users are welcome to post on Patch.