Sharing the Joy of a Glorious Morning

This morning started early, when my alarm radio burst into song at 5:30 a.m.. Time to get up, make a meager effort at breakfast, and get my 15-year-old to his crew practice. In case you don't know this about me (and why would you?), I'm not exactly a morning person. But coming over the hill on our way to pick up a crew mate, we had a sweeping view of the sun rising over the San Francisco Bay, and I thought "this is why we live in San Francisco." Fast forward two hours. After dropping my 13-year-old son at his baseball practice, I decided to walk the puppies (now 6 months old) in Glen Canyon Park. We hiked through the canyon itself, and then up through the rock formations and onto the grassy hillside. The puppies raced through the tall grass, leaping in and out of rivulets, while I admired the wildflowers. The sun shone bright, and the rain-washed landscape was as crystal clear as I can ever remember -- nature in "high def." It has been a rough week in many ways. The Dow fell to below 6500 for the first time in over 10 years. California's unemployment rate is over 10 percent for the first time in even longer. And the oral arguments on the constitutionality of Prop 8 in the California Supreme Court on Thursday were far rougher than many of us had expected. In the face of all that is daunting in our world right now, here is my advice: step out into the sunshine. We in San Francisco live in an amazingly beautiful part of the world. If you are lucky enough to be in the Bay Area, go to the beach (as my pups and I will be doing a bit later this afternoon, when the tide is lower); go to one of our beautiful city parks -- Golden Gate Park, Bernal Hill, Mt. Sutro Woods, or Glen Canyon Park itself, to name a few that I love in San Francisco; go enjoy a walk through one of our charming neighborhoods. If you live somewhere else -- well, find a beautiful spot to enjoy wherever you are. There are some, I promise. Breathe the air. Take in the view. Say hello to some friendly strangers. It's been a rough week, yes. But there's a beautiful world out there, and there are many more days ahead to deal with the economy and inequality and all the other challenges we face. Today, let's all take a moment to stop and enjoy our surroundings.