Imagine yourself in an amazing international restaurant near the shore of a harbor. What do you smell? Hear? See?

In my case, what I see on the table in front of me is a large bowl of steaming sand, chopsticks on the side and at the ready. Mmmm.

Around me waft the aromas of chilis being stir-fried with meat and vegetable, and I’m certain I smell curry. The heavy vapors of braising pork snag my nostril once in awhile. The whoosh of a flame behind me paints the wall across the table in orange as someone yelps in surprise, a flicker of heat spills over my neck.

Everything smells SO GOOD!

Except the bowl of sand. Apart from the technical difficulty of eating sand with chopsticks, there is the issue of tremendously bland taste. And the density of this “food”. The lack of nutrient. Much as I might manage a shovel or two into my mount with great effort, there’s just no way I could make it through that bowl. Nor do I wish to do so.

Any more.

The bowl of sand is my work in design the last couple of years. I’ve decided to stop eating sand. I’ve been incredibly blessed to travel the world, tasting amazing food around the globe, often in the humblest of circumstance. I know I’ve got no reason to continue my sand diet. So I won’t.

It wasn’t always this way. Design was once so potent within my heart, and I had opportunity to create many things that helped people. Things I’m proud to have worked to have worked on.

And, fortunately, I was able to steer clear of those things used to harm people. I never needed the paycheck quite badly enough for that, it seems. And besides, that, too, would become just another flavor of sand—the kind with “collateral damage” or some-such.

What do people lack that they don’t have? Certainly in some places, the answer would be the basic necessities of life. But not at this restaurant at the end of the harbor.

All around me are people who feel as if they aren’t being seen, being heard, or living lives that really matter.

So I’ll watch.

And I’ll listen.

And perhaps I can help others see they were destined for more than just eating sand.