- Currents Bluewater Cruising - https://currents.bluewatercruising.org -

Choices

Flat calm. An ever so subtle transfer of energy from the ocean to the hull brings me back from my thoughts, as I lie on my foredeck.  The lights of the small village nearby all go dark as if, on queue, the generators shut down for the night.  The stars already bright, suddenly glow brighter as slowly my eyes adjust and I slip back into my thoughts.   Slight blues and reds flash, as some stars reveal they are not all white.  Maybe they didn’t just reveal this, maybe I just started to pay attention.  Or maybe the absence of all man-made distraction helped me to see.  Or maybe the barely perceptible movement of the Golden Hind on which I float, tethered  to Terra by a mere hook and rode, shifted my thoughts to notice.

Dawn will again come, all this will be masked by a deep blue, pinks, reds and finally day will break.  Again so many stars disappear from sight.  That’s ok because the warmth of first light will touch my skin, and distraction from these thoughts are replaced with another beautiful gift.  Life, a life spent living it my way.  For now, I will sacrifice a world in which I was conditioned to live a life with time.  A currency so easily spent by far too many, far too easily.  A currency, which seems to be endless until it is too late.  A currency we all have, but valued differently by everyone.

I am lucky, not because I am laying on the foredeck on a warm December night, floating 35 feet above the ground, on crystal clear water.  That was a series of hard choices made and dedication.   No, I am lucky because of the country embossed on my passport.  The choice by those who rule, afforded me the chance to choose.  Not all have this.

 I watched two young boys today, maybe 8 and 10, run out of their fibreboard shack with kitchen pots, obviously sent by their mother to fetch water halfway across town.  This sight touched me a bit because I know this is their life. Their little chore and their little dedication to their family.  They will have very little chance for escape for better things.  Maybe one of those little boys will be a shimmering blue or red light unlike the myriad of simple white spots.  Different from the mold.  I hope they see it.

And yet here I am, anchored 600 feet from their doorstep by choice.  I fetched water from the same cistern yesterday.

If the chance is given or a choice is an option, choose to take back the time.  Don’t spend it on money. Money cannot buy you time.  Take the conditioned barriers that are built around you since before birth, and push them aside.  Take back your time and pursue your life.  This is not a rehearsal and no divine master is going to beam you up when your currency is all spent.  Take it and choose how to spend it.  Chase a dream, be brave and gybe for the first time.  Re-setting your sails takes effort and energy to catch the wind in a new direction. The wind is there and the choice is yours, which direction you choose. It is not dictated.

All that is needed is a moment without distraction, to see the difference between so many choices that all look the same.  It is easy to miss the subtleties that make one choice shine a little differently.  Not all the same are the paths chosen.

 Right now is the time. Do not wait for tomorrow when today shines so brightly.