Ramblings

I found another bit of rambling from my time at sea:

Sea year is over with, more or less anyway. We are leaving tonight from Toyohashi for Portland. In less than 3 weeks, hopefully two, I will be home. It’s unfortunate, but going to sea causes you to realize how wonderful your life is. How blessed you are. I have seen so much. And so much I have seen, I would rather not have. But those things remind us how fragile and precious life truly is. I think, more than anything else that I have learned at sea, the most valuable, greatest, single piece of “learning” that I have received this sea year has nothing to do with the maritime business. It’s people. I’ve witnessed the good, the bad, and the ugly, both in friends and in strangers. I’ve seen what not to do and what to do. I have met individuals that, based solely on how they dealt with people, I would do anything for, or nothing. I have decided that it does not truly matter how much you know about this or that. The true key to success [I hate to use that word] is one’s ability, or lack thereof, in interacting with other persons. The greatest men, both good and evil, in the world had one thing in common. They knew how to interact with people. They could make you feel important. They inspired. They led. They cared. They were real.