User:Wjmoore17/CUP

William Moore Assignment 2 English Comp. I September 11, 2007 In his essay, “The Loss of the Creature”, Walker Percy describes the difference between seeing something, and what people may miss upon seeing it. Percy uses the Grand Canyon as an example of how a tourist visit’s the canyon with a good idea of what he’s going to see before he ever actually visits. Percy’s thought is that he who visit’s the canyon, with an idea of where it is and what it looks like, can never view it the same way as the man who first discovered it, with no idea what he was about to find, no preformed vision of the features of the canyon. That discoverer had the ability to look at the canyon and really look at it. He had no preformed ideas from some photo, or even some others account as to what he was about to see. I recently experienced a similar, yet separate scene from Percy’s example. For the past seven years, I have taken a vacation to the Outer Banks of North Carolina with my family. For seven years, I’ve seen what I thought was the beach countless times. The beach I’ve visited was the same one shown in every souvenir shop and restaurant advertisement. Kids running around screaming, people everywhere, and a boat in the water several hundred feet out. Planes fly up and down the beach with messages from the sky, such as “Stop by the T-Shirt Whirl! 40% off all shirts!” and “Eat at The Dunes restaurant! Free Lobster tail!” All of that was fine and dandy, and it seemed to perfectly fit that view of the beach from the tourist books and TV commercials. This past summer, something was different. The final morning before we left. Before the sun even rose, I did something different from in the past. I woke up and, for no real reason, decided to go down to the beach. Upon crossing the dunes, I discovered a new beach I hadn’t seen before. No people were to be found, not even evidence as to anyone being there. There were not even any footprints left in the sand. The beach looked brand new. If I hadn’t of known better, I may have thought that it was a different beach from the one I had seen so many times in the past. I just sat down on the sand and looked out to sea. Never before was I able to just sit there and listen to the waves crash. My brothers had always been there, getting me involved in sand fights and castle building. Never before did I just sit there and stare out at the seemingly endless ocean. People walking by always seemed to get in the way and throw my attention around. What seemed like ten minutes was over two hours of just me and this new beach I hadn’t seen or heard of. As it was that I left the Outer Banks to return home that day, I didn’t get a chance to visit that new beach again. Right now, if I’ll take another vacation there or not remains a mystery. If I do, I’ll be sure to visit my newly discovered beach again. If not, maybe I’ll discover something new at a new destination.