BoatBanter.com - View Single Post

Jim Willemin

Frogwatch wrote in news:8aeb5a8f-83d3-40d8-b93d-
:

For the past couple weeks, I have been wondering why I dont go sailing
in late afternoons on one of my small MiniCup sailboats I built.
We've had nice weather and wind. Also wondering why I havent found
time to sail the big boat or to use the Tolman. Instead, I have been
coming home and working on the camper project. Whats going on here? I
suddenly realized that I have gotten more enjoyment from building
these things than from using them. This bad because it never ends.
Am considering going on strike against building anything else for 2
years so as to enjoy what I have.

I think it is the lure of creation. First there was a pile of lumber
(tangible) and an idea (intangible). Now there is a smaller pile of lumber
(tangible), an idea (intangible), and a camper (tangible) that wasn't there
before. You have created something that 1) never before existed, and 2)
with luck will be a legacy of your ideas and skill after you are gone. Why
do artists make art, or writers write, or composers make music? Same
thing, I think - to replicate, on a small, human scale, in different forms
and ways, the moment of "Let there be light". To those of us with some (in
my case very small) degree of skill in our hands, I think the lure of
making our ideas permanent and tangible is a powerful driving force for
life, too - making stuff helps keep you alive, in a full sense. Of course,
going fishing or sailing also helps keep you alive in a full sense, so
there is a balance problem. I dunno what to say, except 'do what feels
like it's the right thing to do at the time'... Good luck.