This is the sequel to The Sailing Life. Once again, taking small vignettes from life at sea and bringing forth a lesson to be learned.
Excerpt from Starboard Attitude
Why is it, when I look up at my flag halyard and see the Jolly Roger flying proud in the wind, I want to smile? What’s up with that?
Every day we hear of ships off the coast of Somalia being boarded by pirates. I find myself taking offence at the use of that term. They aren’t pirates. They are thieves, terrorists or hijackers, but they are not pirates.
No, to me, pirates are a romantic notion of a lifestyle best portrayed by Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean! A bunch of seafaring gypsies that lead a life of adventure.
The fact that real pirates stole, killed, raped, and murdered has no place in my dream world. To me they were adventurers. It’s very much like the image of the Old West. The heroes we have from Dodge City and the cattle drives on the Chisholm Trail were, for the most part, murderers and bad guys. But after a couple hundred years, they have become something else.
Yes, I know pirates were not nice people. But the fact remains, and I can’t explain why, when I see another boat with a skull and crossbones flying from the yardarm, I feel a kinship. It’s kind of like meeting a kindred spirit; someone who looks at life the same way I do.
It’s funny, because when I meet someone with no sense of humor (I really try my best to avoid people like that, but as you know, sometimes it’s not that easy!), I find it difficult to justify my admiration for thieves, cutthroats, and murderers.
But none-the-less, when I look up and see the Jolly Roger smiling from my flag halyard, it makes me smile. It makes me feel good, and when I am lucky enough to be around a few hundred people of like mind, well, it just plain feels like home.
How do you measure a Shark?
Measure with inches as they don’t have Feet!