Once and Future Methodist
Down to the Sea in Ships
They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business
in great waters; These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the
deep. Psalm 107:23-24
(J) and I have never been big fans of “reality TV”. Most of these shows seem to be a live action version of “Lord of the Flies”. They seem to point out the worst in the human condition, rather than the best, and all for public consumption. As of late, though, I’ve gotten attached to the crab fishermen of “The Deadliest Catch” on the Discovery Channel.
I first stumbled onto it when I had a bad cold a few years ago. Unable to sleep, I had gotten out of bed and curled up under a quilt on the couch and watched a re-run of a “Mythbusters” episode. After that came an episode of Deadliest Catch, and I was hooked. It is so elemental. And, unlike contrived situations like “Big Brother” or even “Survivor”, this is a real life situation with potentially fatal consequences for an error. Of course, the closest I’ve come to this has been a small fishing boat on a lake with a bit of a breeze blowing. Still, one wants to imagine oneself in that situation….wondering; “how I would do?”
It does remind one of just how many jobs out there are not
benign. I spent a couple of summers
working as an overnight gas-station attendant at the only station open on a
stretch of US 1 after midnight. A
few miles north of here starts the coal fields which stretch up the backbone of
the
It also remind one of just how small and fragile that we really are.
