At down under, almost everybody loves going to beach. If you asked a person what will he/she goes in a beautiful day, the answer probably is to beach.

People are having fun swimming, surfing, sun bathing, making sand castle...but these activities may turn into tragedy if not listen nor follow the rules and system on the beach especially when the beach is so crowded.

In Australia, the most important flags on the beach are the RED and YELLOW flags. These show the supervised area of the beach. What it means is, a lifesaving service is operating because the beach is a dynamic and ever changing environment, with the potential risk of people who are unaware of the unpredictable and dangerous hazards that can be present at times. It is the reason why trained lifeguards who understand the beach use a system of flags and signs to advise the people who visit with the important things they need to know.

RED and YELLOW flags represent to swim between the flags. RED flag means no swimming. YELLOW flag means caution required, may have potential hazards. Other flags like RED and WHITE means evacuate the water, BLACK and WHITE flag means surf craft riding area boundary.

And for the signs, there are a few types. They are for: warning, regulatory, information or assistance. 

The warning signs use a yellow background and include simple images to communicate what should be aware of. So, it is important to always observe and abide by the safety rules, signs and system. Some for safety, they are put in place to warn the people about the permanent and occasional hazards that are present in the environment. Some of these signs are permanent for long term hazards and some others are put into place by the lifeguards to show people the hazards present on that day in a specific location in a day to day bases eg. rip currents which can change locations on different days.

If seeing red circles with diagonal lines across a black symbol, these are regulatory signs. They advise the prohibited or permissible activities at the beach. There may be penalties imposed if disregard those signs whereas permissible activity is using a green circle.

Personal Reflection:

Sometimes I wonder, can accident really be preventable? When coming across the news about swimming accident or shark attack, I can't resist to ask "why"? Mostly, people ignore the signs and rules or even breach them deliberately. Don't they understand they are risking their lives and those who trying to save them?! Are the "fun" in front of them really worth a life? Some accidents like taking a selfie on a dangerous spot really make me speechless, but still have people doing it. What world are we living in?? 

God place us in a world with Laws and Commandments. They are for our good, protection and safety. From these, we have true peace, joy, justice, safe and free. Only the evil do not want us to enjoy those. By using one simple word the evil can easily achieve its evil plan: "freedom".

What people want to do out of their own selfishness like to use the word "freedom" to "disguise" their acts or to justify them. But, before they act, did they ever ask themselves 1) is it LEGAL? 2) Will it hurts anyone (did they think of others, including themselves)? 3) What is the consequence? 

We are visitors of The Life Beach. The red and yellow flags is like the Laws and the Commandments of God. We follow and abide the rules and system so that we can enjoy our time and have fun in a safe environment (this world). The trained lifeguards (angels and saints) know well of the environment and help saving those (bring them to Christ) who are in danger (temptation or venial sin) within the supervise area (the holy Church) using public rescue equipment to perform first aid (through Jesus, receive the conversion and healing grace in the Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation). On the contrary, anyone who choose to have fun outside the supervise area, they are like running away from the Laws and Commandments of God, they are putting themselves and others (body and soul) at risk because they do not know how dangerous and unpredictable the environment and location they are in (mortal sin).

Nowadays, no one is unfamiliar with the words: bully, scam, hack, abuse...and so on. These are the immediate result of the action taken through "selfish (false) freedom". The world will be worst and worst if things continued, because more and more people wrongly use freedom. To stop the bad cycle of misusing freedom, people need to observe the Laws and Commandments of God together. Let's practice self-restrain as the first step because love conquers all.

"Charity is patient, is kind; charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up; is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all thing, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never falleth away; whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed...And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity." (1 Corinthians 13)

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