Tales of the Billabong

Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Thu 6 Oct 2011 11:44
Thursday 6th October 0948 UTC 1048 BST
 
06:26.56N 021:16.21W
 
Wind: about 6 knots from behind us.... COG 005 Deg True, SOG 8.6 Knots
 
This morning dawn brought the sight of almost oily water and clear skies. There has been little wind at all and it has been behind me. Just now I have 6 knots and it is starting just to creep round towards 140 degrees on Starboard. If it continues to back a little more I will get my very patient spinaker up which is waiting all rigged on the foredeck for it's moment of glory. At the moment I could probably sail at 4 knots on starboard but I would be sailing to Sierra Leone. Nope! I don't think so. The other tack would take me at about 4 knots backwards and to .............. Brazil!  
 
So on with the grind and the heat but at least progress is forward and thankfull I had been fully expecting on this choice of route at this time of year to be under engine for some considerable time. C'est la vie!
 
Therefore I am left with much time to occupy my restless mind. There are many business issues to take care of and I can not only catch up on these but take some initiatives to get the ball rolling for my eventual return. Over the course of the whole circumnavigation business had continued and in fact grown conserably.
 
This is not as one interviewer suggested recently the I am running the business from the high seas and can do it because of modern technology. I can't run the business while doing this, but I can appoint a management team that can and modern technology allows me to keep in touch with them. There have been many challenging business issues to deal with over the two years but because they have been current I cannot discuss them. I am sure particularly those of you who run a business would find it extremely interesting but these stories and explanations will have to wait for another day.
 
So today there's a little bit of philosophy for you.
 
It is an old Aboriginal story called the Fish and the Shadow
 
"A long time ago there was a Billabong. It was verybeautiful with calm clear water and water lillies growing across the surface. In the water lived some fish families - mother and father fish, old fish, young fish. They were very happy and loved their home.
 
Every morning the fish woke up and went about their work. The mother and father went off hunting for food, working hard all day. The young fish went with them and studied and observed them learning everything they could from their parents; where to find the best food, how to catch it and how to be on guard against sea eagkles, and other enemies. Their parents taught them many things about life while they worked together.    
 
In the evening all the fish came together and shared and swapped the different types of food they had all found during the day. They also told stories about the days activities. If any fish had done something funny during the day, the other fish acted it out making all the others laugh. At night the fish went to sleep early, tired from their day's work.
 
The old fish taught the younger fish disciplines of the mind, body and soul, giving them direction and advice in all aspects of life. The young ones listened in awe to their wise counsel, hoping not to miss or forget even one word. The fish allshared responsibility for life in the Billabong. They lived well and were very happy. They didn't depend on anyone else or leave their work to others.
 
Then one day about four o'clock in th eafternoon, the fish saw a shadow fall on the Billabong. Something stood near the Billabong that they had not seen anything like before. The shadow then threw something onto the water. All the fish saw it land on the surface and they all shrank back fearful as the white stuff sunk to the bottom.
 
After a while a couple of brave fish - there are always some - swam gingerly up to the white stuff and started nibbling it. They found the taste funny at first but nibbled it again and again until there was none left. When the white stuff was all finished and the shadow was gone, akll the fish went back to their hunting and other work.
 
The next day the shadow came again and then more fish nibbled at the white stuff. Each day more and more fish, as the one's from the day before talked about the white stuff, came out of hiding and nibbled at it.
 
Every day at four 0'clock the shadow came. Now all the fish rushed to grab and nibble at the white stuff taking as much as they could because it was free for the taking. The fish found the taste bland but it filled them up. A ttime went on they named this white stuff "bread". The shadow threw bread to the fish every day giving it freely.
 
Slowly life started to change. They waited for the shadow to come every afternoon. At first they still went out in the morning to gather some tasty food for themselves and returned in the afternoon ready for the bread handout. When the shadow saw that lot's of fish in the Billabong were interested in the bread, it threw more and more into the Billabong. Soon the fish were not going out in the morning and just waiting round for the shadow to come and feed them.
 
For the first time in their existence the fish started to feel bored at night with no interesting stories about the days hunting to tell each other. Neither were they tired because they had done no work. Many stayed up most of the night because sleep would not come till the early hours of the morning. They started to find other ways to make up the time using substances found in the Billabong to get "high". Being in this condition caused many arguments. Soon the fish were getting up late, but this was not a problem as long as they were up by four o'clock for the shadow to come. The bread was bland but by then the fish had grown so lazy they didn't care.
 
Trouble however was brewing. Some fish completely forgetting their old ways and morals raced to get the bread first. "we were the first to taste the bread when you were all too scared, so the bread belongs to us. You lot go away and find your own shadow" they arguedOthers said "the shadow comes to our end of the Billabong so the bread belongs to us." They fought and argued causing hurt and fights between families.
 
The old fish became very sad because the young fish had no respect any more. More and morethe fish's lives changed. They didn't teach their young ones the old ways anymore. And they took and kept the bread for themeselves. Many thought the bread must be good for them because many became very fat....
 
Then the shadow began to change. Usually it came right on time but then it started coming late and the fish became very angry. Then the day came when the shadow forgot to bring any bread at all. This became more regular. The fish became very angry swearing at the shadow, threatening to hurt it in some way and stealing from each other. This all made the fish feel very weak becaus ethey knew they could not hurt the shadow they had come to depend on it.
 
There was now a deep feeling of emptiness and shame among the fish. They didn't value or even think about anything but the bread anymore. They lived badly, unhappily with their hearts and spitits bound. Their lives became powerless and meaningless. They regularly became sick because of their inactivity and their troubled minds.
 
Then came the time when the shadow no longer fell on the water. All the fish grew skinny and lamented the shadow's passing because they knew they were too weak to go hunting for themselves or didn't know how any longer. They had forgotten the time honoured way of their ancestors."     
 
This peice of wisdom by an Aboriginal elder came far too late for the Australian Aboriginals and alludes specifically to the governments benefit system of hand outs by way of perhaps "easing their national concience."
 
The same effects to a greater or lesser extent can be found anywhere where government have misapplied handouts and subsidies, from the pool of the productive peoples taxes to the unwilling and unproductive meaning there is no money left for spending on those that cannot help themselves. We can do a critique and annalysis of it message by maessage if you want but I am sure you have had enough for today an dthe message in the story is perfectly clear....
 
By the way while typing out this story the wind backe dround a little further and now I have almost six knots, my spinaker is up and we have rocketed from 8.6 knots to 4.1! Happy daze. I have just worked out if I can average this speed to Gibraltar I can be there with no stops by early mid November......... 
 
 
thought for today: Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons. - Woody Allen