Life, of course, is anything but assured. Yet in the very face of this bleak thought, I felt the surge of optimism and hope that I feel every time I look on water. Ocean, lake, or river, its prairie spread always leaves me feeling both inconsequential and reassured. Towns, cultures, individual lives and fortunes will flare and fall, but the waters remain, their backdrop of comforting sameness trumpeting continuity and, with that continuity, hope. Like children, we need something to believe in, a face that will always be there, an anchor we can always return to, and when we can't return, our children can, and their children, too. Off Season: Discovering America on Winter's Shore (Barnes and Noble Great New Writers Selection)

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