Yachats Oregon Writer Rick Schultze

Even though this is a New Year at times it feels like things are happening so fast the year has already been long. First of course is the big change in Yachats which is now minus its grocery store and health clinic. Then there is the challenging economic picture that’s putting pressure on everyone. Elections and income taxes are upon us and on the goofy side of things the controversy over Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien and just who is going to take over the Tonight show. On one hand that is nothing to many people but to TV executives that is a sticky situation. I guess you’d be safe to say that there are multiple priorities for everyone and the issues one feels are impacting them personally are the priorities driving their decision making. But the way the world is today is like watching the sand on the beautiful Oregon beaches shift and change. One day the beach is flat and smooth and the next day the same stretch of beach might be roughed up and bumpy especially if a heavy storm has hit the area. So rather than lament about tough times and uncharted futures it might be the right time to look at this as a time of opportunity to make some worthwhile changes to the way we live and act. Perhaps it will give us a chance to look at our situation and the situations of our neighbors and villages and towns and see if we can better them using our strengths and knowledge to take what we have and use it to our advantage. We here on the Central Oregon Coast from Seal Rock to Florence are in the one part of the world where people gather to become “Storm Watchers”, Whale Watchers” and recently “Sea Lion Watchers” at Sea Lion Caves with their new sea lion visitors from San Francisco. When you look around the world you see devastation and human tragedy that makes our storms and wet winters here seem like child’s play. Here we are in paradise compared to most places. Sure, it gets wet and gloomy sometimes but that will move on just like the shifting sands. In fact, on the beach in Yachats near the mouth of the Yachats River there are rocks jutting out of the sand four or five feet tall. Two days ago those rocks weren’t visible but today they are. It is just like life, what was of sight is now here to see thanks to the shifting sands and our ever changing world as we see it.

To reach Rick Schultze email: yarick@pioneer.net