It’s never ‘just a day’

Every day is a new day. How’s that for a cliché? But true nevertheless. Every day, when Andy walks on the beach, it’s easy to imagine that he sees the same things in the morning. But that’s the whole point – every day at the beach is different. Sure, it’s the same beach, the palm trees are always there. There’s always daybreak and the waves always roll in.

But every morning is different. Every morning even smells different. The light changes every day. No two waves are the same. No two clouds are the same. The sunrises have only one thing in common; they are spectacular. The marine life is different every day. How can Andy photograph the famous Five Palms every single morning? Because every single morning, they are in a different light.

That’s the serious part done with. However, there is no mayonnaise in Ireland.

I overheard someone say that when I was a child. What a shame, I thought. Mayonnaise is so good. Imagine, no potato salad. No eggs mayonnaise. And then I wondered why there was no mayonnaise in Ireland. Why could that possibly be? They have eggs, they have oil, surely? How come the Irish can’t make mayonnaise.

Of course, they can. Or at least buy it from the supermarket. What I had actually overheard was ‘no man is an island’. What am I rambling on about? Andy’s article yesterday, that’s what.

The whole point of the aday.org project is that it is  just a day. That’s why a Tuesday in May was selected. The project is worldwide. There are holidays every day all over the world, many of which are region-specific. But yesterday it wasn’t a holiday anywhere in the world. It wasn’t even weekend. It was just a boring old Tuesday, just a day. That was the point.

In the International Space Station, an astronaut was taking photographs for the project. Yes, from space. Showing our world as it could have only been imagined a hundred years ago. All over the world – and even outside it – people from young children to great grandparents were taking photographs to record ‘just a day’. Just an unremarkable day in the history of this remarkable planet.

The project, with the backing of Desmond Tutu and Richard Branson, to name but two, was developed to capture a moment in time. Okay, not a single moment. That’s what Andy does on the beach every morning. He captures scenes that are momentary – the splash of a wave, a bird in flight. The project has a similar intention – the capture of our world – as much of it as possible – on ‘just a day. It was an opportunity for the world to come together, to show the diversity of this planet.

I haven’t looked at the uploaded photographs yet but I’m sure that there will be ‘moments’ that are so far removed from my life in Florida. Will there be photographs from India? From China? From Africa? Surely. Like you, I’ve traveled a bit. I’ve seen many travel and wildlife documentaries on TV. These were professionally produced and mostly very beautiful. How will they compare to a photograph a child takes of his home in India?

One of the aims of the project is to create memories of ‘just a day’ for future generations to know exactly how we lived in May 2012. Not a documentary-maker’s idea of how we live but how we really  live. When Andy was walking on the beach yesterday morning, who in the world was photographing what?

When Andy captures the sunrise, there is a message in the photograph. “This is a new day. Who knows what will happen today? Babies will be born today.  New music will be written today. Paintings will be created. Seeds will germinate today that one day will be a magnificent tree or a beautiful flower. All over the world, someone, somewhere, will make a difference. And none of these things as ever happened before”.

If today is ‘just a day’ what’s the point? I’m about to type a word that I rarely use because it’s overused all the time. But in this case it’s true. Today is unique.

As they say in these parts – have a great day

JJ