A BIRTHDAY GIFT ... TO MY READERS

by Ray Jason

It is dawn on the anniversary of my birth – long ago. I sit quietly and peacefully marveling at one of my favorite panoramas here in the Archipelago of Bliss. In the foreground, lovely ocean-striding sailboats gently tug at their anchors. Beyond them, the sun’s first rays accentuate the elemental beauty of the neighboring islands. And far in the distance is a range of mountains crowned by a sleeping volcano.

       Last year, on my Northwest Passage crossing, I saw the northern extremity of this mighty cordillera that stretches past my handsome sloop and extends all the way to Cape Horn. Will I one day see that legendary southern peak that has brought such ecstasy and agony to ocean wanderers?

                                   

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       Blessed and cursed as I am with an overactive “introspection gene,” I become even more contemplative on my birthday. But how could it not be so, when one is in the Autumn of one’s life with the years thundering by and the disappointments mounting?

       These last five years since I started my Blog, which strives for a deeper understanding of the human project, have been rewarding but also very unsettling. Initially, my research via the internet was exhilarating. Here was information and knowledge without gate-keepers. Explanations and narratives that had seemed suspicious to me during my college years, could now be fully investigated.

THE LONG VIEW

by Ray Jason

      The eye surgeon offered me a choice. She said that after the cataract was removed an artificial lens is inserted. She then gave me two options. Would I prefer to be far-sighted or near-sighted? I instantly chose the long view.

       After leaving the V.A. hospital, it dawned on me that this selection applied to much more than my human vision. Had I chosen the “near” lens, I would have been able to see my GPS more clearly as I continue to wander the Wide Waters in my lovely sailing boat.

       But with the lens that allowed me to see farther into the distance, I could more accurately pick out the stars that steer me when I do celestial navigation with my trusty sextant. The symbolism of this did not escape me. For I am a believer in the under-appreciated merits of “The Old Ways.”      

      When I first crossed oceans by myself, there was no Global Positioning System. And there could again come a time when there is no GPS. But those stars are eternal. They have guided mariners for a half a dozen centuries.