Seabirds, white bodies illuminated by reflected light, soar in the wild blue yonder. Promisers of peace.

Below, opaque, nearly transparent, long-tentacled jellyfish pulse through the water column. Harbingers of mortality.

Their poisonous beauty belying the serenity of the still and silent surface and sky.

Mirroring the insulting stings borne in shoreside public forums. Paining the heart and troubling the mind.

Raising the question: What is happening here?

While there were always those who lost – or never learned – good manners, nowadays, their ranks have swelled beyond memory.

Perhaps the result of unhinged and unedited social media-fueled rants. Or fear of the increasingly chaotic national political scene.

Whatever the case, we hope for better behavior on the local and community level. And a willingness to move from tenderizing to tenderness toward our fellow travelers.