I watched Dr Strangelove again the other night - what a great film! Sterling Hayden who plays General Ripper is not a household name any more but his autobiography - see link - is a masterpiece and is still available. Hayden started life as a schooner skipper and somehow had found his way into film. At the height of his career - he asked his kids to spend the weekend with him on his yacht and sailed off for 4 years. His estranged wife and studio were pissed. The book has always had a huge impression on me and partly gave me the courage nearly 10 years ago to go on a business strip to PEI that has not ended yet.
"To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen, who play with their boats at sea -- "cruising," it is called.
Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in.
If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about. "I've always wanted to sail to the South Seas, but I can't afford it." What these men can't afford is _not_ to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of "security." And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine -- and before we know it our lives are gone.
What does a man need -- really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in -- and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all-- in the material sense. And we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed. Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life? by Sterling Hayden From Sterling Hayden's book, Wanderer "
9:41:23 PM 
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