“Gee Mister, you have to at least try!” 

This is sort of what my friend Michael said to the tractor driver who he wanted to help save his boat from getting buried in the sand on a choppy day at the beach. I say sort of because he probably didn’t say “gee mister” but, he did plead his case like a boy asking a policeman to pull his teddy bear from a car wreck. I used to give Michael a hard time about this whenever I could. He’d always laugh and respond that I would’ve done the same thing if it was my boat. While I don’t know if that’s true or not, what I do know is that Michael would’ve been the one to help that small boy.

Michael looked for opportunities to help others. He was the guy that’d drive around in a blizzard looking for someone to help out of a ditch. He was the guy that wouldn’t think twice about helping a friend or a stranger get themselves unstuck. 

Back to the Boat

On this day, we were the ones that were stuck. It started out as a day on the water, we were headed out of Deep Creek, Alaska to go fishing. After a 3-4 hour drive from Anchorage, we were met with red flags on the beach signaling that the weather was not advisable for boating. We didn’t want to waste the long drive so, we looked at the 3 ft. chop on the water and thought, “we can do this”. We decided not to pay the tractor drivers $40 to launch us and put the boat in the water on our own. 

The afternoon on the water was mostly uneventful even if uncomfortable with boat slamming up and down as we got on step. I remember holding on tight and trying not to injure my tail bone. I don’t think we caught any fish, I just know that it was wet and cold. 

The trouble started when we got back to the beach. After landing the boat, we pulled it up as far on the shore as we could to keep things secure while Michael went for his truck and trailer to load the boat. While he was gone, my job was to hang on to the boat as the waves were beating up the shoreline. Slam, slam, slam, the waves bashed against the transom, filling the boat with water and sand. By the time Michael returned, the boat was about ¼ full of water and taking on more sand with each wave.  

We started bailing water and fighting to keep the boat straight as the waves kept pushing it sideways. The ocean was winning. I just remember fighting the water and wondering what to do about all the sand that was quickly starting to bury the boat. It was getting harder and harder to keep the boat from turning because it was getting so heavy. The waves could still push it around but we couldn’t. We were both wishing we had paid the 40 bucks for the tractor. 

Refusing to give up on his boat, Michael flagged down a tractor driver to help. He told him we were going to lose the boat and the driver said he had too many other boats waiting to stop and help us. “Gee Mister, you’ve got to at least try!” 

The energy of the water was overwhelming, and our efforts to fight were futile.

Thankfully the tractor guy decided to help. The first thing he did was to tell us to turn the boat around so the bow was pointing to the water. “Turn the boat around!” he said. It was like instant relief, suddenly our fight with the waves was over and we began to win the battle of bailing out the water. It only took a couple of minutes after that as the tractor hooked up the trailer and we loaded the boat. He pulled it ashore, we handed him some cash and off he went to pull out the next in line. 

Rookies

Rookies! Here we were, fighting the whole time to keep the boat in exactly the wrong position. The energy of the water was overwhelming, and our efforts to fight were futile. When we let the boat do what it was designed to do, the energy took care of itself. 

So often we look at conflict and determine that our best response is to fight. We might be thinking that if we don’t fight, we will lose. We might be thinking that if we’re going to lose, we might at least die trying. Maybe we’re just trying to defend what is ours.  

We might not be thinking at all.  

We might not be thinking at all

When we fight, we put our energy into the opposition and the more energy that you expend, the weaker you get. Now it’s true that your opponent is getting weaker too (unless it’s an ocean your fighting), and you might just win. Maybe. But, if the opponent is your family, or your neighbor, or your fellow human—where does it leave the humanity as each weakens the other?  Where does our energy go?

What might happen if one thinks about who they are and allows the energy into themselves?  What if you turn the boat around and let the turbulent energy flow past you? 

Energy is always around us, it’s up to us to read it and figure out how to respond to it. Sometimes it’s blocked energy that gets pent up and needs release. Other times it’s getting away from you and you need to learn how to catch it for a ride. And even if it’s energy that is coming at you in way that can knock you around, you might just be able to turn into the force and flow with the waves until find yourself safe and sound on the beach. And then, when the storm passes, and the sun comes out, you’ll be on the beach, ready to launch your boat again. Maybe you’ll catch a fish this time.