© text and photos MJ McGalliard
Since June 1st 2013 I’ve been kayaking almost
every day. Since then I’ve missed about
10 days due to illness, family or work.
That’s around 1206 trips in the last three years. (I’m not going to jinx it by saying when, but
I’m on track to make 365 days in a row.)
At 1.5 miles round trip to and from the lake pulling my kayak on its
little trolley comes to 1,809 miles on land.
Now that I add it up it’s no wonder I’ve had blowouts on the trolley
tires and had to replace both. I’m on my
second paddle (the manufacturer doesn’t say specifically in the warranty that
the paddles they make are not meant for breaking the ice around the dock, but
they are emphatic about it on the phone) and have three kayaks- for the first
time in a long time all of them keep the water on the outside after repairs and
are usable.
 |
| The Fleet in dry dock. |
I paddle approximately 1.5 miles a day which comes to
the same as pulling the boat- 1,809 miles.
Put them together and you get 3,618 miles going back and forth and
‘round and ‘round, but not necessarily going nowhere.
At some point early in my back and forth travels I
decided to wave at people. I started to
wave at people driving past, neighbors, the FedEx and UPS drivers, the letter
carrier, people in their yards, people on the shore- in fact, I decided to wave
at everybody. Not a huge commitment when
it comes to social change, but something nobody in this neighborhood seemed to
be doing.
Before I report on the results of my experiment, let’s
look at the anatomy of a wave.
Originally, in anthropological terms, a wave was a way
of showing someone you come across that your right hand is empty of
weapons. (A handshake has the same kind
of history, but allows you to get close enough to strike with the dagger in
your left hand that you are hiding behind your back. Sorry, I’ve been reading a lot of European
history lately and it’s beginning to show.)
Wikipedia says that- In physics,
a wave is an oscillation accompanied by a transfer of energy that travels
through a medium (space or mass).
They are both
correct, but I prefer to apply the physics definition to the hand gesture-
mostly because of that ‘transfer of energy’ bit.
When I first started
waving at people most of them looked straight ahead and pretended that they
didn’t see me. After a while, though,
when I didn’t go away and kept waving they started to wave back. (Teenagers seem to have the biggest problem
with a person waving at them, looking at me like deer caught in the headlights
of life. Perhaps if I texted?) People in yards started talking to me. Some even told me their names. People sometimes stop their cars and
depending on the weather say something like- “Gorgeous day to be out, you’re
lucky.” Or, if the weather is rotten- “I
can’t believe you’re out in this!” Then
they bring up something about commitment.
Me being committed- either to kayaking or for observation.
But, this led to a
further phenomenon- People started waving first. A totally unexpected result.
 |
| I'm the reason MJ's boat drifted away, but that's another blog. |
It would seem that
my militant waving has broken what my friend Sharon Rose Miller calls “the ME
bubble”. And by that she means the
people that bounce around this world completely absorbed, usually by a
telephone or other device, but sometimes simply fascinated with themselves and
ignoring everyone else on the planet. A
great number of them seem to frequent Costco, but that’s just my opinion. Our society condones this behavior. I’m not saying everyone should be all ‘Hail,
and well met!’, but not running over my ankles with a shopping cart while
tweeting that you’re in Costco pushing a shopping cart would be a huge step
toward acknowledging the fact that there are other humans on the planet and in
your immediate vicinity.
 |
| 'BANSHEE' in winter garb. |
My daily excursions
have done me a lot of good. Not only
physically, but as a break from my increasingly digital world, and waving seems
to be a big part of that. I’ve noticed
that when I wave I tend to smile and so do the people that wave back. Moving those muscles in your face releases endorphins in your brain that make you feel better.
So, it would seem
that I’ve made my corner of the world a little better place to be. It’s not an Opie skippin’ down to the fishin’
hole, Mayberry kind of place, but things are different. I’ve progressed from being “Who’s that guy
and what is he doing?” to “The Kayaker” to “Our Kayaker”.
All because of that
appendage oscillation that transfers energy.
No comments:
Post a Comment