Pete! I look forward to your tutorial on the lathe!
I think you should remain hopeful. Indeed, I believe you are hopeful by nature. The best evidence is the act you have chosen for you avocation. Something that takes hours and days and months and years to make. Something that takes equally long to master (excluding our shipmate Paul
). Something that calls forth creativity in solving problems. All in hope. In hope that the object of your labor will be as excellent as it is in your gift to make it. On top of that, you spread hope with your sharing. Thank you for that.
I hope for you, for all of us, that we continue to be hopeful, that we continue to share the experience of hopefulness. As you know, I spend a lot of time studying history, of the USA's founding in particular. I know you too enjoy history, so I'm not trying to preach here. It seems that human nature involves comparing and the comparison leads to what I call "othering." Once someone's "otherness" is fixed then comes the fear and a host of negative emotions and reactions. The great and inscrutable Thomas Jefferson was subject to this condition. When he wrote his Notes on the State of Virginia in Paris in the late 1780's he made a profound statement about the fear he felt because of the "otherness" of the slaves. He was not alone in his fear. On the other hand, hope abided among others of the founding generation. His Excellency, George Washington, I believe, was chief among the hopeful group. What he learned, what he was willing to learn and unlearn about his relationship to slavery because of his majestic service as Commander of the Continental Army is a vision of hope. Unlike Jefferson, Washington did not give way to the "othering" of his slaves. He learned from service leading black patriots. He did not fear or despise them. He made it his last act after death to free his slaves. Hope.
In the end, the hopeful ones, like yourself, coexist at all times with the hopeless ones. It is a shame that hopelessness gets the headlines. It make the world look bleak and dangerous. The reality is, well, much more hopeful. The reality is that hopefulness and the gifts it gives are abundant and outweigh hopelessness by magnitudes. It would be lovely for the world if the headlines and those who write them gave expressions of hopefulness proportionate space.
The lesson, if there is one, is to remain hopeful and all that hopefulness conveys to the person who hopes and those to whom providence has placed in his or her path. And with that, I can't wait to see the finished ship's boats, my friend.
Blessings. Peace. Gratitude.
Chuck
