"katy" wrote in message
...
Gilligan wrote:
"Ellen MacArthur" wrote in message
reenews.net...

This post is absolutely brilliant. In life one should always strive to
simplify, to reduce to the essentials.


Wind generators. Solar generators. Diesel generators. Shore power
cords. Fridges. Freezers.
Air conditioners. Water heaters. Microwave ovens. Propellers. What do
all these have to do with
sailboats? I think the answer is people like that don't want a sailboat.
They want to put their house
inside a boat. That's OK if they just stayed far far away from people
who don't want to be hassled
by all their commotion. And out of sight of people who don't want houses
navigating around.
Not to mention their air pollution.


Why do anchorages these days have to smell like an airport or a
truck stop?

All the crap they must haul around with them is a form of denial. They
"enjoy" life through possessing material objects.


Why does the biggest smelliest noisiest boat always anchor right upwind
of the fleet?
They can't seem to stay away. They get as close to you as they can.
It's as if they really want to
bother you. The one thing all boats need is a decibel meter. If it gets
higher than normal speech then
it explodes and sinks the boat.... YES! And they need a diesel fume
detector. If it goes off it empties
the holding tank into the bilge.
I always thought sailors were a quiet, uncomplicated group. I've
discovered there's way too many
selfish people who aren't sailors. They're Winnebago drivers lost on the
water.... They're confused.
They think Spock said "the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the
few or the many."

Cheers,
Ellen

This post is so excellent, I feel have almost ruined it by the addition
of my comments.

When things become "commercialized" (that is, money to be made) the entry
bar is lowered. Things are made comfortable, easy, "safe" and "fun".
There are some things this will never happen to. Things that require
great physical expenditure and suffering. Things that only pay in
contentment and are not fun.
Ya know, Chanteuse hasn't got any of the stuff mentioned on board...but I
am not going to sit and criticize someone else because they either want,
need, or just have that equipment. The important thing is that they have
a sailboat and that they sail. There is only one person on this group who
has an ulterior motive for talking about possessions, but we all know his
game.

Carping about what someone else has just shows
what a mean spirit you have.

I disagree with the above statement. A mean spirited person would want to
force others to his will. They would do things like promote legislation for
high gasoline prices or tax their incomes so they can't purchase things.
Questioning the psychological basis of excess consumption is not being mean
spirited. In fact, it can help those who are delusional by pointing out and
helping to understand the error of their ways.

This is not a group of purists. If you want purism, go find a group that
caters to anachronistic sailing...If camping out in your boat is what you
like, then camp. But don't sit and judge those that don't suit your style.

I believe this group has a good number of Romantic Idealists. Though they
may not practice it completely they have the appreciation of the practice of
an "art" rather than the practice of an "amusing diversion". I firmly
believe that one should look up to and appreciate those who suffer and go
down in flames because they live on principle. Those people are the edge of
the bell curve and are the ones most likely to make changes in history.

The Men That Don't Fit In
There's a race of men that don't fit in,
A race that can't stay still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
And they roam the world at will.
They range the field and they rove the flood,
And they climb the mountain's crest;
Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood,
And they don't know how to rest.

If they just went straight they might go far;
They are strong and brave and true;
But they're always tired of the things that are,
And they want the strange and new.
They say: "Could I find my proper groove,
What a deep mark I would make!"
So they chop and change, and each fresh move
Is only a fresh mistake.

And each forgets, as he strips and runs
With a brilliant, fitful pace,
It's the steady, quiet, plodding ones
Who win in the lifelong race.
And each forgets that his youth has fled,
Forgets that his prime is past,
Till he stands one day, with a hope that's dead,
In the glare of the truth at last.

He has failed, he has failed; he has missed his chance;
He has just done things by half.
Life's been a jolly good joke on him,
And now is the time to laugh.
Ha, ha! He is one of the Legion Lost;
He was never meant to win;
He's a rolling stone, and it's bred in the bone;
He's a man who won't fit in.


CYRANO:
Why, I well believe
He dares to mock my nose? Ho! insolent!
(He raises his sword):
What say you? It is useless? Ay, I know
But who fights ever hoping for success?
------------------------------------------------------
I fought for lost cause, and for fruitless quest!
---------------------------------------------------------
You there, who are you!--You are thousands!
Ah!
I know you now, old enemies of mine!
Falsehood!
(He strikes in air with his sword):
Have at you! Ha! and Compromise!
Prejudice, Treachery!. . .
(He strikes):
Surrender, I?
Parley? No, never! You too, Folly,--you?
I know that you will lay me low at last;
Let be! Yet I fall fighting, fighting still!
(He makes passes in the air, and stops, breathless):
You strip from me the laurel and the rose!
Take all! Despite you there is yet one thing
I hold against you all, and when, to-night,
I enter Christ's fair courts, and, lowly bowed,
Sweep with doffed casque the heavens' threshold blue,
One thing is left, that, void of stain or smutch,
I bear away despite you.

(He springs forward, his sword raised; it falls from his hand; he staggers,
falls back into the arms of Le Bret and Ragueneau.)

ROXANE (bending and kissing his forehead):
'Tis?. . .

CYRANO (opening his eyes, recognizing her, and smiling):
MY PANACHE.


As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler;
solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness
weakness.
Henry David Thoreau