"We’re all here because we’re not all here"

Earlier this week, we said goodbye to four friends, Mike and Deb Mahoney from Florida and Bill and Cindy Davidson from Texas.  They are folks we have met in northern New Mexico who accepted our invitation last summer to sail with us.  They are the first folks we have hosted on Azure Wind,  Brave souls that they are, they brought good spirits, helpful insights, encouragement, and several really good stories.

Mike, Deb, Cindy, Bill...

Mike is a retired sea captain.  He grew up in Boston.  At the age of 15 he was working summer jobs as a deck hand on a ferry boat.  He attended the Maritime College of Maine and several of his semesters were spent on tugboats and ships crossing the seas.  He’s traveled all over the world; before he retired was the Captain of a 1,100 foot merchant marine cargo ship.  He supervised a crew of 20.  His work pattern was three months at sea, then three months at home and he did this for years.

So, over a couple of sundowners, Mike was telling us of an incident with someone in the home office who was complaining about some mistake one of the crew had made in the paperwork.  She was going on about such things not happening.  And finally, Mike said,  “Marie (not remembering if that’s her real name), think about the people who go to sea and make a life on the waters.  We’re all here because, we’re not all here.  If we were, we’d be doing something else.”  Well, apparently Marie was stopped in her tracks, paused, and then burst out laughing.  She relaxed out of her anxiousness over paperwork.  Life moved on.  Mike, in his practical way with his strong New England accent, brought common-sense wisdom to the moment.

We’re all here because we’re not all here.  I like that phrase.

It makes me think of people called to serve in this institution or that one.  People called to be teachers and serve in our schools.  People called to be public servants as fire-fighters and police officers.  People called to be health care workers, doing front line jobs with the people in need.  People called to serve in the church.    All of us is here, where we are, because, frankly, we’re not all here.  We’re all a little bit crazy to ignore the consequences of the call and keep doing the work, imperfectly, I might add.

Think about the religious call to a life of faith.  In the world and culture we live in, we can’t possibly be “all here” to claim and support an institution that says things like,  “you are not the Lord of this world, or even the part you see and know”;  “everything you have is a gift you have received”;  “despite the gloomiest experiences, it is right to live in hope and decency”;  “your first job is to be a steward of God’s world and resources and worldview”;  and “grace and gratitude are the primary drivers of your days.”  I understand why a lot of people walk away from this.  I also understand why so many others claim it.  Those who do are “not all here” because the call overpowers the apparent realities that seem to shape our world (self-centeredness, greed, individualism, isolationism, power, pre-judgments/prejudice).

We’re all here because we’re not all here.  We belong to God and we’ve claimed that identity.  And because we’re not all here, we can sit back, relax more, and laugh at the imperfections we all bring with us.

There are lots more stories, but for another day.  Have a good one.

A footnote to Life on the Shoreline – Seaweed

The day after I posed the comment about Sargassum seaweed, I went back to the Riteway and discovered that it had disappeared.  Actually, it had been raked ashore, where it deteriorates there.  Surprised me, none the less. 

Then, Mike told me about the Sargasso Sea, located in the middle of the Atlantic.  It is the only sea on earth that has no coastline.  It’s bounded by the Gulf Stream on the west, the North Atlantic Current on the north, the Canary Current on the east, and the North Atlantic Equatorial Current on the south.  It is 700 miles wide and 2,000 miles long  (1.4 million square miles).  The circular currents throw their refuse into the sea, where it collects and doesn’t leave.  Among them, the seaweed, and our plastic bottles (the Sargasso Sea is home to the North Atlantic Garbage Patch).  The collection of seaweed is massive, and is part of the birthing, feeding and migration patterns of eels, fish, turtles.