“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase each other, doesn’t make any sense.” -Rumi
This poem resounded in my head all throughout Friday as I climbed the truly majestic White Cliffs of Dover. There are no words in the English language to describe the beautiful display of nature that I encountered on that day.
Although I did enjoy London immensely, I found that it felt cramped and claustrophobic after a few days. When I stepped off the train in the small, seaside town of Dover, I immediately felt like I could fully stretch for the first time in days. London is full of vibrant, colorful people and places. I can almost feel the history embedded in museum exhibits and most of the buildings. But sometimes a person just wants simplicity and a chance to catch their breath and breath in air that isn’t polluted by cars, buses, and trash piled on the sidewalk. Dover gave me a chance to do exactly that.
Unlike the Atlantic coast in America, England’s Atlantic coast smelled salty, but very fresh. And even though the town is mainly a tourist attraction, I found that the town and even the Cliffs were not crowded. It was very pleasant to get out of busy London and have a lazy, although short, holiday at the coast.
Ralph Emerson once said that “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey” that matters. Well, I would have to agree. Partly. I believe the journey is more important than the destination, but I think that before all else, it’s the people that go with you. I know that my trip to Dover (or London) would not have been as exciting and memorable if not for the people that came with me. Having high tea on top of the White Cliffs of Dover would just have been boring and lonely without my three companions to make me laugh. Without them I probably would not have appreciated the complete splendor that surrounded me and would have, instead, been wallowing in self-pity.
London afforded me many opportunities to get lost, get turned around, and be found again, but Dover gave me a chance to slow down and appreciate the glorious day around me. I didn’t have a train to catch or a destination to be. I just had a few close friends, a shining sea, and some pretty awesome White Cliffs.