Always struck me as utterly irrelevant. The world is big; a beach is huge. The very idea that kids taking a half-dozen pretty pebbles at a time can make a dent in it? An imagining of feeble-minded people with utterly no notion of the magnitudes involved.
And, one storm can take an entire beach away (or return it). Happens, repeatedly in some places. Makes the activity of beachgoers profoundly unimportant.
And, one storm can take an entire beach away (or return it). Happens, repeatedly in some places. Makes the activity of beachgoers profoundly unimportant.