Today, lacking anything of uplifting importance to add to today’s global dialog I wanted to re-offer the world one of my favorite quotes:
“It is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea—whether it is to sail or to watch it—we are going back from whence we came.”
Quote attributed to John F. Kennedy; Speech, Newport, Rhode Island, 14 September 1962 Public Papers of the Presidents (1962) p. 669
On a somewhat different note, today, while leaving the local marina, I watched someone from my local community do exactly the same type of thing that causes local governments to despise the recreational boater. Pumping sewage into water that our kids swim in. Perhaps I am feeling discouraged today.
The boaters’ moral authority is found in two things: as a community we do work hard to lead by example, and second, the any environmental or other problems that recreational and liveaboard boaters cause in the aggregate is a tiny fraction of the damage caused by acts on land. That, however, does not excuse a single bad act – like a boater that pumps directly into the marina, or someone who allowing chemicals to fall overboard. On our best days we represent a point of view that can help save our planet. On our worst, we are merely the lesser of two evils. To me, today we were the latter.