Miyajima Island

Hiroshima fades, shrouded in haze distant from our destination Miyajima Island. The ferry bumps into a welcoming jetty and what seems like a thousand school children eagerly exit on a much anticipated excursion.

“Hello” they laugh nervously having worked up the courage to practice their English, “Where are you from?”

The reply of Australia is met with oooo’s and aaaa’s and we wonder if they have any idea where exactly that strange sounding word is?

Defined by rolling hills, floating temples and hidden paths amidst beautiful forests, the Island offers up a myriad of photo opportunities, the kind that can’t go wrong even when you’re a hungry, tired tourist. But no...You see the photographer/tourist in this case was me and I spotted this little guy.

With a confidence that suggested he was possibly in charge of the Island, he made his way over to a group doing a photography class, but he had a much, much more serious job on his mind and quite frankly...well...I think they were just getting in his way. You see, this little man had given himself the extraordinary task of moving all of the sand on his right hand side over to his left hand side where it was neatly placed and patted down. This is no mean feat (for anyone) when you consider that he had chosen to do this... on a beach.

It seemed very important and was not to be taken lightly as evidenced by the intense concentration on picking up the sand and moving it without dropping any. This people, was a man on a mission who would not be discouraged by the obvious, who would not be held back by the ridiculous rationalisations of adult people, this was childhood belief at its best. Just as becoming a doctor, fireman, astronaut, vet and dinosaur hunter are all possible simultaneously, so was the reconstruction of this poorly placed (particularly the right hand side) beach. This child was determination personified.

I thought this guy (whom I will never know but refer to as David – as in Davis and Goliath) was marvellous and I hope one day he gets to drive a backhoe or builds bridges or builds Islands in the middle east or all of those things – simultaneously whilst running away with the circus!

I would also like it noted that when I left, his left hand beach was coming along nicely.