A morning walk on the beach

This is a picture of Haystack Rock as it looked this morning. It's right outside our hotel at Cannon Beach. At 235 feet in height, it's the 3rd largest monolith in the country. Just behind Dick Cheney and Karl Rove.

I took a walk down to the Rock and watched the sea gulls and puffins as they began another day. The beach was relatively deserted so early in the morning, but as I was returning, I approached a man who was glued to his cell phone. Not in his ear where most people stick 'em, but in his hand. He never once glanced up from that phone. So after we passed, I continued to watch him out of curiosity until he became a sand crab sized dot on the horizon. And still he never looked up from that phone.

I wondered what could be so enthralling as to hold such a spell of this man. Maybe he was checking his stocks. Or maybe he was reading of the Israeli precision "smart" bombing that slaughtered 60 civilians in Qana, Lebanon. Thirty-four of which were children. I guess the US can claim about 12 of the victims in that we provide Israel with 20% of their defense budget.

Or maybe the man I passed on the beach was involved with nothing more than a video game to hold his attention that gulls and puffins circling the nation's third largest monolith on the banks of the world's largest ocean couldn't. Whatever it was, it was a beautiful morning for it.