Ed note: We have been criticized in the past for philosophical and political musings on what was supposed to be a voyaging blog, but true voyaging is not just about the boat, the travels, the weather, or the practical methodology of cruising. True voyaging is about the human spirit and its desire to explore and to gain knowledge and wisdom through new experiences, the rest of it just accouterments picked up along the way. As a result, you will often find philosophical musings here on The Retirement Project. if it's not your cup of tea, then scroll on by. The next practical post should follow shortly.
Things are a bit slow on First Light. It has been a few days since our latest visit to the OR and everything is going well. A few weeks from now is the post-op doctor's visit where the cast and stitches will be removed and an assessment made as to how things are going. The plate and screws are far stronger than the bone they are supporting, making the condition of that bone and how it reacts to the the surgery the deciding factor in recovery.
With the history of this trip in mind, any plans we make for departing are written on tissue paper that is then left out in the rain. Even each day's plan is more of the make-it-up-as-you-go variety. There is a vague idea that we might be leaving Oriental around the end of July or early in August. That will leave roughly eight weeks to make it to our scheduled haul out north of Annapolis. We will have spent more time in Oriental than traveling this trip. Not exactly what we had in mind when we pulled out of St. Louis back in April.
It is tempting to be discouraged. Life-threatening cardiac arrests, a pace maker install, multiple broken bones, surgery for plates and screws? Not exactly a cruising dream. Between challenging boat projects and completely unexpected medical issues, this is a trip that will be long remembered as one to forget.
Our life is full of good people who have stepped up to help out any way they can, and we are grateful for every supportive offer and thought. Many have allowed that “everything happens for a reason”. It is a common meme spoken with the very best of intentions, usually after the original misadventure has passed and the aftermath is being brought under control. But it is a meme I don't happen to share.
I think things just happen. “Reason” is something we read into an event after it happens to try and make sense of it all and to take comfort in the idea that someone (or something) far more capable and knowledgable than us, is in control. But when I look around I see little reason to think that is the case. What happens, happens, often without warning or obvious reason and usually outside of our control. (Not always, but usually.) All we do control is how we choose to react to what has and is happening.
The decisions we make in the present moment will help form the moment that is about to pass. We play a role (small as it might be) in the continuous flow of things happening that stretches back to the beginning of time. A flow that (in my humble opinion) has no ultimate goal or predetermined path. Rather It is a continuously unfolding experiment which just happens to include our human experience of being self aware and making decisions. Beyond that, pretty much everything is a mystery.
Every decision we make is done so with a scant amount of current information, usually near zero understanding of history, with no idea (or often thought) of unintended consequences, and with little clue as to what will happen next in the physical world and cosmos. The dinosaurs went about their business for 250,000,000 years then were destroyed by a big rock that fell from the sky. Tornados, lighting strikes, floods, hurricanes, wild fires, wars, the rise and fall of empires—we have about the same control over such events as did the dinosaurs over a wayward asteroid.
This river-like flow of events (to use a common metaphor) is very “messy” in human terms. It is full of cross currents, back flows, eddies, rapids, rouge waves, and storms. The best we can do is simply accept what happens in this moment while making our tiny bit of the cosmic experience as positive as we can for ourselves and those we care about. It is also helpful to keep the upcoming moment in mind so as not to make it worse than need be. When we are making those choices, if possible, it might be helpful if we include the rest of the human family as “those we care about”. We might even throw in the rest of the biosphere that is this little island in the dark, the one that we all ride through the cosmos, as something to care about as well. If everything does “happen for a reason” that reason can only be to give each of us, in this present moment, a chance to live up to, and strive to be, the best excuse for a human being as we can manage. On First Light, and at this moment, that means being patient, being grateful for the support and aid that has flowed into our lives from all directions, and making plans written on tissue paper that has been left out in the rain.
2 comments:
It your blog…. Post whatever you want. Like your Editor notes… you can stop reading if this doesn’t suit your tastes. Fair winds
We hope to see some fair winds pretty soon. Though, now that we are on a trawler, "fair winds" might be better described as "light breezes." Lots of stuff to learn yet about trawler travel. As to posting whatever I like...I do, but I don't do so with the intent of offending anyone. Odd, at least to me, is that there seems to be a lot of people in the world whose main goal in life is to find reasons to be offended. Fortunately it seems that live-a-boards and cruisers are among those who are neither easily offended nor looking to offend the thin skinned. In fact, avoiding too much contact with the easily offended is often a stated reason for taking up this life-style. Or maybe it's that, when one's life is as vulnerable to the ocean, the weather, tides, currents, and mechanical mishaps as is full time cruising, what some people are up to is realy not worth bothering about too much.
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