After watching a documentary on the legendary Norman Mailer, one line stayed with me: “We are likely to have a false sense of what we know.” It reminded me that much of life, like water, is deceptively simple on the surface. We are quick to name what we see, to admire the obvious, and to move on. Yet, beneath the clarity, there are depths, shadows, and textures that shape how things appear and how we understand them. This piece grew from that thought, an attempt to pause, to look deeper, and to consider the forces that color both water and our perceptions.

All bodies of water are clear. It is what lies beneath and more that gives the water its “color.” So why does my mouth rush to say, “Look at how beautiful this shade of blue is, how clear the water is,” rather than, “Look how incredible the combination of depth, sand, and light absorption makes the water appear”?

As someone who spends a lot of time on the water, I think about this often. I’m reminded of it when we stop, sometimes off the coast of Miami, sometimes entering Boca Inlet. We float, and I look down through turquoise water to the white sand, free and unmarked by debris.

Am I conditioned to glance at the surface of things and simply move on? Perhaps so, because I am constantly reminding myself: go back, look deeper, you are not focusing on what really matters. I like to think that, for a long time, I have tried to look beneath, at what lies below, whether clear or clouded, to sense the depth, the light or shadows, and to acknowledge that it is a number of things that make something appear muddy or pure.

Even so, there is much that I glance at, at times stare at, and see only the surface. And there are others I barely notice. The work continues.

As I take time to remove some things from my life, I hope I am replacing them with what deserves more attention, more questioning, more thought, and greater understanding.

I hope these choices help me better understand why I am drawn to certain things and certain people, and indifferent to others. I may never fully understand myself, but I hope to better understand my surroundings and their impact on me, so that I can continue to appreciate the complexities within clear blue waters and still find meaning in the muddy ones.