ERROR IN JUDGEMENT

I loved the smells of the beach - the salty, clean smells - even the fishy and occasional dead crab smells. It was early morning, the usual time I did my 3-mile walk along the shoreline.

The sky was especially beautiful this particular morning - copper colored at the horizon with orange and yellow bands against a background of rose and blue. It was low tide and small waves were lapping at my feet as I splashed along.

Just offshore, pelicans glided only inches from the surface as they hunted for breakfast. An old gull swooped past me and landed at the edge of the water. He had only one foot but still managed to balance perfectly on the hard packed sand.

I wondered how the poor bird had lost its' foot. Maybe a big sea turtle had bitten it off, or maybe it got caught on a piling or in a net. The gull hopped over to investigate a discarded plastic bag, then lifted its' wings and continued it's food search down the shoreline.

Nearly a mile later, I saw someone sitting in the sand with a pair of dogs. As I got closer to them, the grizzled old man looked like a homeless beach bum. He was just sitting there in the sand with his eyes closed. Was he asleep? Drunk? I just hoped he wouldn't try to panhandle me as I passed by.

As I continued on down the beach, I began to wonder about the man. How could someone live like that? .... Does he or did he ever have a family? ...Maybe he was a criminal......

My thoughts were suddenly broken by the sight of a bird flopping over and over at the edge of the water just ahead. It was another large gull and it had somehow gotten tangled up in a huge mass of fishing line. One wing was bent back almost inside out and its feet were completely bound together.

Then I noticed the missing foot and realized that it wasn't another gull at all, but the same bird I'd seen earlier. The old gull looked exhausted and I reached into my pocket and got out my penknife. As I reached for the bird's wing, it squawked loudly and gave me a hard peck on my hand.

I stood up and looked around the beach to see if there was anything I could use to put over the bird's head. What I saw instead was the old bum and his two dogs walking towards me.

Maybe they'll just walk on by, I hoped. No they won't, I decided, they'll come over here to see what I'm doing.

"Go Away," I thought to myself, "we don't need dogs over here trying to get at this gull".

The old bum gave the dogs a signal and they both sat. I squatted back down to the bird and looked up as the man walked towards me.

"Hey," I said, "this gull is all tangled up and I've been trying to cut this line away, but he keeps trying to bite me."

Without a word, the bum squatted down next to me and quickly grabbed the bird's head in his huge hand and clamped its' beak shut.

"Dere," he said, in a strong, foreign accent, "you cut now".

I began to cut through the line until finally the wing was free. The bird struggled to to get up but its' feet were still bound and the old man kept his grip on its' beak.

As I cut the last of the line away from it's feet, I smiled at the old man, who simply nodded and released the bird's head.

The old gull flapped his wings wildly and flew quickly across the waves then up higher to safety. The man put both his hands on his hips, leaned back and laughed loudly.

"Dere," he shouted, "you vun lucky burrd!"

Still smiling, I said "Thanks, I couldn't have done that by myself."

No longer worried about the man or his dogs, I offered my hand.

"Tank you," said the man, "My name is Jon".

"I'm Mike, Jon - good to meet you. I don't recognize your accent," I continued, "Where're you from?"

"Der Nederlands," he sighed, "but dat vas long time ago now."

I wondered how old the man was. 65? 70? 80? Still thinking he was a beach bum, I asked, "So, do you live around here, Jon?"

To my surprise, he said, "Ya, I yust move into cottage over dere on der point"

I talked to Jon for the next 20 minutes or so. This very intelligent old salt told me how he had left home when he was a young boy and had traveled the world as a merchant seaman - that over the years he had saved enough money to buy his small cottage and live out his remaining days near the sea he loved so much. The dogs were strays he had rescued and now lived with him.

We said goodbye and as I resumed my walk, I realized just how wrong it had been for me to judge this man by his appearance...how easily I had jumped to a false conclusion.