"Your comment on the Slocum factor was interesting, but I think you left out a very critical part. Old Josh sailed off in to a world which he knew to be finite and went from A to B because he was a ship's captain by trade. But for 99.999999% of the world's citizens then, a journey of 50 miles was huge. And any journey left you vulnerable to little or no contact with loved ones at your root. Another continent was unfathomable. I am sure that any desperate immigrants to the US and Canada had next to no idea where they were going. We live in a world that is not necessarily smaller, the usual comment, but rather our minds and awareness have expanded to encompass it, to say nothing of our technology. We "think" the whole blue marble into existence now, and see it as one thing. In Slocum's day any journey, even by rail or steamship, required steely nerve of overwhelming need. Today we can afford to think of a sail to the Marquesas as a grand adventure, a choice, even a bit of retro wind powered fun that sets us apart from everyone else, both literally in the moment and in another way permanently. In part we do this stuff in search of that feeling that says we are "different" and have "been there". And it makes us part of a smaller "family" than simply of "those who pay their taxes on time". But you still need to be excruciatingly careful!"
Thanks for this perspective Kurt - technology is probably not the most important factor in what we attempt or achieve...
No comments:
Post a Comment