by Ray Jason
It was the silhouette hour. A cayuco came paddling towards me in the deep
dusk as I sat with my back against AVENTURA’s mast. The oarsman’s stroke was smooth and strong. There was a child in the back tending the
fishing line as her dad rowed.
When they were 20 yards away I realized that it was
not a father – it was a grandmother. Even though she was as ancient and weathered
as her hand-carved cayuco, she propelled it like a man in the prime of his
life. It was a joy to behold.
I motioned them over towards my boat
and hustled below for a packet of cookies to give to them. As they nudged up beside my hull, I was
amazed by the peaceful dignity of the old woman. Her face was dark and deeply lined, but her
eyes flashed like moonlight on the sea.
At this close range I could now see the amazing resemblance between her
and her grand-daughter.
As they rowed away I noticed the grandmother turn her
head to make sure that the young girl was okay.
I suspect that as she did so her mind flashed back to when she was that
same age - sitting in the stern of a little cayuco admiring the power and grace
of HER grandmother as she paddled
them across a twilight lagoon.
I turned back to my clipboard and
spent a half an hour working up a haiku to celebrate the encounter.
Ancient grandmother –
you still row your cayuco
like the girl within.
*******
This was another sublime episode for
me as I drift through my middle years here in the Archipelago of Bliss. These little vignettes feel like such blessings,
that I always search for some meaning in them to share with my readers.
Just as I was pondering what message
lay hidden in that sweet encounter, a light went on. It was my anchor light that comes on
automatically as the sky darkens. I
laughed at the overused cliché of a light bulb going on when someone gets a
clever idea in a comic strip. And in
this case it was doubly humorous – because what it sparked was a meditation on
“electricity.”
Some of the over-arching themes that
I write about in my essays and that I also get to savor and test in my sea
gypsy life are simplicity, freedom, self-reliance, an easy pace of living and
pleasures that are elemental rather than ephemeral.
The impact of that old woman’s noble
face and dignified bearing will remain with me for the rest of my life. But how many of the Facebook photos that you
find captivating today will you remember next week? The difference is that my experience was
direct and immediate whereas the photographic one was indirect and mediated. You did not actually see a goofy cat – you
saw a picture of a goofy cat.
Silly Facebook cats are only one
strand of a gargantuan electrical web that has ensnared much of humanity. Here is a brief bullet point list of some of
the features of modern life which will not function without electricity:
·
Automobiles
·
Televisions
·
Computers
·
Air conditioners
·
Lights
·
Smart phones
·
ATMs
·
Check-out line
cash registers
·
Air traffic
control towers
These are all tied into “The Grid.” And the centralized electrical system is not
controlled by everyday people, it is ruled by the wealthy and the powerful –
who I gleefully refer to as The Malignant Overlords. And these folks worship the god of profit and
ignore the pleas of the people. If you
doubt me, just google up what Enron did to their customers in California.
The more you are tied into this electrical matrix, the
less likely you are to experience a life that is simple, free, self-reliant,
easy-going and elemental. The old woman
paddling the cayuco has never been on The Grid and flourishes just fine without
it. Likewise, the sea gypsy community is
not chained to a centralized power prison.
But because we have our own independent solar and wind power on-board, we
can also enjoy pleasant creature comforts.
*******
As I sat on the deck in the darkness with my clipboard
and its little light, I tried to fathom the message that was woven into the
little visit with the grandmother and child.
And I believe that it is this.
A person can live a very rich life by savoring the
slow and simple pleasures. But the
bright, electrical, frenzied spectacles of the real world are often just
illusions and phantoms. They seldom
offer true joy - and often lead to despair and tragedy – for both individuals
and the society.
The secret might be to disconnect as much as possible
from almost everything that your culture is telling you to do. If it tells you to watch TV, go to the park
and feed the ducks. If it tells you to
buy, Buy, BUY, sell some things and give some stuff away. If it tells you the government cares about
you, make them prove it.
And then, one fine day, some kind, attentive stranger
might recognize that you lead a simple, authentic life and offer YOU some
cookies. But even more importantly - what
they are really offering is their respect and their admiration.