by Ray Jason
Recently,
when sorting through some
mementos, I encountered three
short quotations
that had helped launch the Sea Gypsy decades
of my life. It was startling to discover how
much power and enchantment they still possessed. Allow
me to share them with you.
“...whenever
it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul … I account it high time
to get myself to sea as soon as I can.”
Herman
Melville
“I
must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and sky,
And
all I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer her by.”
John
Masefield
“There’s
a race of men that don’t fit in,
A
race that can’t sit still;
So
they break the hearts of kith and kin,
And
they roam the world at will.”
Robert
Service
That
final quotation is particularly important to the subject of this
essay. When I first began to wander the Wide Waters, it was not
because I felt forced to do so. It was because I chose to do so.
But
in today’s society, there is a large segment of the population that
is scorned with such venom, that I believe that their best strategy
is to escape from the abuse that is heaped upon them in the
terrestrial world. I urge them to revitalize their lives with
freedom, substance and adventure by heading out to Sea.
Who am I referring to? You
might have already correctly guessed. It is young,
white, straight males. I
am not recommending that they join a navy or a merchant marine, but
that they sail away from the growing
and darkening madness in
their own little freedom ship. It is much easier and cheaper than
you might think and I’ll explain
all of that later in this essay.