Tales of the Billabong
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Thu 6 Oct 2011 11:44
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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
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