From Sterling Hayden’s book, Wanderer: via
“To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm
foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise you are doomed to a routine
traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen, who play with their boats at sea –
“cruising,” it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in.
If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the
venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is
all about. “I’ve always wanted to sail to the South Seas, but I can’t afford
it.” What these men can’t afford is _not_ to go. They are enmeshed in the
cancerous discipline of “security.” And in the worship of security we fling
our lives beneath the wheels of routine — and before we know it our lives
are gone.
What does a man need — really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in — and some form of working activity that
will yield a sense of accomplishment. That’s all– in the material sense.
And we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed. Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?”
Recent Comments