He could not point to anything substantial,
anything worthwhile, anything he had built with his own hands—
Waking or sleeping, I dream of boats — usually of rather small boats under a slight press of sail
E. B. White
And that is the tragedy of it all, I guess — to go through life without ever having built anything with our hands. It was not that Willie had no dreams; he did, but his dreams were always of grandeur and high fame. He never could bring himself to do what was simple and before his very eyes. Willie wanted to do the great things. As a result, he did nothing at all.
In some ways, I suppose, there is a lot of Willie in all of us. Some of us go through life with great dreams of building something with our own hands, but we never quite get around to cutting the first board. We intend to do it someday, but that someday never comes until ultimately our time to build has left us in the past, with dreams deferred but never lived. We look back on our life at what could have been, but what never was.
Whatever the reason, we simply took the wrong turn. Maybe what we need to do is to turn back and begin afresh. If others are building boats, we can build a boat, too. After all, even the most skilled shipwright had to begin with his first boat. Why should it be any different with us? The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. And the adventure of a building a boat with our own hands begins with the first board. It is an adventure we can do. It is an adventure I can do. It is an adventure you can do. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
James Sanders
Reprinted from Gaff Rig, June 2005, a publication of BYYB, an organization of rabid amateur boatbuilders and sailing afficionados.
Used here by kind permission.
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