......room for all

Yogis,

I spent my final summer vacation at our beach place in Rehoboth.  For those of you not familiar with Rehoboth, it is a small town on the Delaware shore.  A main street lined with eclectic shops and restaurants take you from the edge of town to the beach.  The beach itself is bordered by a mile long boardwalk complete with small rides, games, ice cream and of course, the famous Thrashers fries.  It is often referred to as “The Nations Summer Capital” being the closest beach to downtown DC. 

But it also has another reference.  The word ‘Rehoboth’ is in the book of Genesis and some have translated it to mean “room for all”.  And so it is……………….

We have owned our cottage there for 15 years now and I have always noticed something unique about the town, but for some reason this year it played out for me in Technicolor. You see the Rehoboth beach and boardwalk offer some of the best people watching around. The diversity brought in on the daily busses is amazing.

Every color is represented.  Every imaginable size and shape. Rich and poor. Infants through the old timers who meet with sneakers on to do their daily walk.  Preppy attire, teenagers with the low riding pants, and the Amish in their humble and modest long dresses and caps, right next to the girls in the tiny shorts. Generous amounts of piercings and tattoos. Languages from across the world spoken as pizza is ordered and  don’t forget the large gay population.  Amidst this sea of humanity are men holding hands and women couples beaming with pride. Throw in a smattering of transgender individuals and you get the picture. 

Yet in my 15 years there I have never seen as much as a harsh word, jostling, shoving, taunting or teasing.  Zero. How is that possible? One may say it is because it is the beach and everyone is having fun, but I would challenge that I have been to other diverse beach towns where once the sun begins to set the energy changes. Or where they have clear police presence to keep the peace, while Rehoboth police, when you do see them are in a beachy looking uniform with no visible weapons other than perhaps a stick. In fact their mode of transportation is most often bikes. 

In a country right now that is expressing such intolerance to anyone ‘not like me’, how refreshing it is to see the clear joy in a gay young man’s face because he has a place where he can be free to be exactly who he is.  Isn’t that what we all want? Shouldn’t that be a basic human right? That there is “room for me”  and for you, and for you, and for you.

Rehoboth has a unique and wonderful energy.  Perhaps it is because it was originally established as a spiritual/religious center by a man who saw it in his dream and set out to find it. Or maybe the energy was always there and that’s what called to him as he slept.  Whatever the origin, let’s all find a way to bottle it and bring it to our workplaces, shopping centers and government.  Because there truly is “room for all”.

Two slices for me please,
SARAH