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On 7 Apr 2005 06:32:48 -0700, wrote:

My annoyance with that silly Mark Twain quote prompts this post.

Although casting off everyday cares to go cruising sounds ideal to many
people, I have to wonder about people aspire to it with intense zeal.

Surely this intense zeal is *exactly* what is required to stimulate others into
following suit, in whatever manner they so choose. This drive to realise a dream
may in fact stimulate someone else to follow their own dream which may be far
different from cruising, and, may at some time in the future benefit humanity in
some, at present undreamed of, manner. The cruiser has, in that case benefitted
humanity by his/her actions.

I wonder if they have so little to offer to humanity that they would
abandon society for such a narcissistic goal. If you spend all of your
time cruising, you essentially give up making any difference to the
rest of humanity. My personal belief ("belief" means I have no proof
or even a good argument for it) is that each of us has some unique
skill that could somehow be of use to humanity. Unfortunately, very
few people ever discover this skill (a topic that I spend hours
discussing with my unhappy state worker neighbor)but I think you ought
to give it many real tries before giving up and going off cruising.

Do you really believe that the average person even considers whether what they
do is of any benefit to humanity? The majority of people that I know are more
concerned with keeping a roof over their heads and food on the table than they
are with what humanity is up to. Surely believing that one can do good for
humanity and agonizing over how to develop the unique skills to meet that
objective is the epitome of narcism. Personally, although retired for some
years now, I enjoy the sheer delight of escaping from "humanity" for periods
during the summer. No television, no computer, no news-papers, sheer bliss.
While I am on the water in my own little floating cottage, the world and its
cares no longer exist. I can understand fully the thinking that stimulates
those who do cast off from the shore for a period of time. Some write about
their travels and offer advice for those who wish to follow in their foot-steps,
surely they are contributing, if not to "humanity" as a whole, but to a select
group.

I have no problem with people who retire and then go cruising, they
have already made their contribution. My argument is with people who
aspire to cruising as their life goal.

As one who is retired and cruises during the summer months I can think of no
contribution to humanity that I have made. At least none of which I am
consciously aware.
If making my annual monetary contribution to ever increasingly avaricious
governments is "making my contribution" then I have indeed paid in full, albeit
with reluctance. However, this in turn relates back to the pursuit of the
almighty dollar, which in itself is, to my mind, not a worthy objective.

The most interesting and to my mind the most successful cruising person
I have ever seen was when I had my old 23' boat docked waaaaaay up the
Carabelle River at a place for $20/month. The boat next to mine was a
trashed out 21' Venture. One day, its hatch was open and a voice
invited me aboard and when I stepped into the cabin, I stepped into
water 1" deep. In the gloom I saw huge cans of green beans labelled
Department of Agriculture that i recognized as early 60s cast-offs from
fallout shelters in Tallahassee (this was 1988). The Master and
Commander of this odd vessel was named Jack who told me that until 6
months ago he had been a homeless drunk but he had somehow been given a
check for $500 that he used to buy this floating (sort-of) home of his
on a whim. I never learned the rest of his story but clearly he had an
interesting life as he had only one ear, half of his left hand,
something wrong with one eye and other physical markings of a less than
normal suburban existence. Jack had a black mongrel dog named "Crow"
that perfectly matched him as it was missing a front paw and its lower
jaw was bent at a strange angle to the rest of its head from being run
over.
Jack sailed this amazing little boat with duct tape repaired sails all
over the northern gulf from Cedar Key all the way over to (this is
almost unbelievable) New Orleans. I'd run into him at odd places and
he could describe the channels of all the cool places I wanted to visit
that also did not have marked channels.
One day, I ran into Jack on a brand new top-of-the-line boat ( I cannot
remember the brand) so I asked him if he had won the lottery. He said
no and volunteered to show me what he was doing so we went below where
I found myself wading through wood shavings. Wood carving tools were
scattered round as were what looked like wooden masks with intricate
gold inlays; they looked sort of Japanese with black lacquer and gold.
He told me that he had carved one and sold it in New Orleans (something
to do with Mardi Gras and Voodoo etc.)and since then had so many orders
he couldnt fill them all and that he didnt even begin working on one
till he was paid several thousand dollars for it. I never saw him
again after that but I always think of him as what a successful cruiser
should be.

Why, in your opinion was this person a successful cruiser? What I see is a
person who discovered a talent for wood-carving and managed to turn this talent
into a money-making enterprise, apparently selling home-made fakes to gullible
purchasers. Do you have the same admiration for the hundreds of people who
operate home craft businesses? Would you be so admiring of this Jack if he had
done the same thing from a home on shore? Just how has he benefitted
"humanity"?

Just my thoughts,
Jan

"If you can't take a joke,you shouldn't have joined"