Monday, March 15, 2010

Why?

Why do people cross the Atlantic Ocean in rowboats? Of all the stupid athletic stunts that are the hallmarks of our bored age, this has always struck me as the stupidest. Sail across the Atlantic, ok, why not, there is something lovely and traditional about crossing the Ocean by wind power. That is how our ancestors did it. But our ancestors, unlike us, had the intelligence not to do it in rowboats. And look at this boat; it completely lacks whatever charm there is an old wooden boat one might row around a harbor in Maine, or the grace of a racing scull. If you must do something extreme, climb or swim something, or at least do something lovely. But don't manufacture stunts just because they are difficult and dangerous.

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