“The generation behind us is even worse. They don’t even want the gear, they just want to do the activity on a video game. Don’t bother to learn to play a real guitar, just pretend with guitar hero. Don’t actually go out and dance, just pretend with a dancing video game. It’s so fucking pathetic.”
You have no idea how right you are, and it only makes me wonder what the previous generation thinks of us. Was teaching boats & motors the other day and guys will just sit there and say, “I don’t know how to fix this” without getting in there and getting their fucking hands on it. It’s maddening, but it’s also what drives me to get in there and fix stuff and run my own show. I think, “I can do this and NOBODY can tell me I can’t.” Because I can.
So I show them by jumping in the boat and monkey-fucking it for a while and throwing all my 147 lbs into the motor to get it off tilt and then have one of them stand there and point and say, “I think there’s a lever on this side you have to flip.” ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? GET IN THERE AND FLIP IT, MOTHERFUCKER!
It’s showing that I DON’T know everything on a boat by heart but I DO know I can figure it all out and I don’t mind pinching my fingers or getting dirty or wet or cold or anything other than warm and fuzzy. That’s the attitude that’s so precious and awesome and that we want to cultivate: Unstoppable.
“It seems like we’ve all gotten so far away from actually doing things, and just wanting the gear that allows us to do things.”
Yeah, I feel like a faker every so often, but then I think, “Fuck it, I AM out there doing stuff.” Maybe not all the time, and not as hard as the real dirt bags, but I get out there and get cold and hurt and sweaty and fucking uncomfortable all for a sunrise on a windy piece of rock or the silver flash of a fish 30′ down. For nothing. For everything.
“So how does one decide if they are “winning” at life? Is it how much you laugh? Or is it how much you learn? Or how much you love? How much you experience, or how deeply you experience? Or is it simply you feeling content with how you’ve used your time? ”
I don’t think it’s “winning”, in fact, I don’t think either of us think that way but it’s an easy word to understand. All of those are important (to us as individuals), but ultimately there’s no scorecard.
Really, ultimately, no one gives a fuck. It doesn’t matter if you’ve grown a garden or been in combat or you like fucking dudes in the ass; all that stuff only really matters to you. That seems to be one of the open secrets of growing up and living a good life. You realize no one else gives a shit but you and it doesn’t matter to anyone but you what your life is. If you want to smoke pot, do it. If you want to put in 1,000,000 feet of vert, good for you. If you land a contract for the same amount, $1,000,000, who gives a fuck? You, that’s all, and that’s all that matters. Maybe it’s inspirational for someone else for a minute or a night or a week, but what drives us is us. Our thoughts, our minds, our muscles, our will. That’s what makes you and me and anyone special, that we drive our own train. That is it, and that is all.
Reminds me of (yet another) Epictetus quote: “Everybody should play the game of life–the best play it with skill, speed, form, and grace.” Those qualities are all we can strive for, and thank god they’re ephemeral, enjoyed only in the moment.
Those same qualities are what sell lots of product because they’ve been captured in video or pictures or whatever and then you don’t realize until you buy the jeans or bite into the cookie that it’s not hard work you’re wearing or eating, it’s just CHNOPS. It’ll keep you alive and sheltered and fed but unless you put anything into it your heart is still empty.
Indian talk. I better go do something else for a while.
Ok for now,
NFH