Beauty always surfaces

I tried to write a poem about the feelings that I experienced today and I may come up with something yet but the emotions were too big and so I needed to write a blog post. I don't always see this clearly, the words that I posted as the title to this post, but today I am working to choose to believe these words and I am going to try and hold this belief as much as possible. This truth struck me so powerfully today as I stared over the side of the monument that stands over the USS Arizona. As we got off the ferry that takes us out to the monument I was struck, overwhelmed actually, by the odor of oil that permeates the site. I had not expected this and it nearly knocked me over. There is such a sense of reverence but at the same time, the oil smell was so physical and corporeal, such the opposite of spiritual. I caught my breath and went inside the monument. I was leaning over and watching the hole that opens in the floor in the center of the monument and watching the small drops of oil rise to the surface and create rainbow streaks in the water. And then I noticed the fish, darting and playing in the ruin. And then it struck me. This rusted hulk, this tomb, has become something wonderful and yes, beautiful. I went from opening to opening, studying the wreckage and watching the sea life dancing and I realized that the entire Arizona has become a living coral reef. The coral has anchored and established itself there in that metal and life has sprung from all of that death and destruction. And even the oil, constantly seeping up to the surface, is not damaging this life, only enhancing it with the rainbow sheen that one peers through to see the wreck. It is glorious. And I was flooded and filled with such a sense of peace and comfort. And as I listened to the park ranger describe the ceremonies that take place to burying ashes of the survivors of 7 December 1941 who choose to return to this place to join their shipmates and the ceremony that occurs yearly on the anniversary date, I had such a sense of fullness. These men, who have not yet been released from their duties, who stand on an eternal watch, they are at peace, they are redeemed and avenged and they rest easy. And, they are content as long as we remain grateful and vigilant and work hard to keep the world as much a place of peace as possible. And watching the reaction of my children, how much they were touched by all that they heard and saw in that place, I feel so much hope.