Staying the Course: A Wish, A Witness, A Whale

Growing up my Dad earned a sailboat. He threatened to leave a job and they wanted him to stay enough they literally bought him this boat. It's about 15 feet long. It has a fiberglass shell. It's tippy as hell. And on a strong breeze it feels like freedom. I led wilderness trips up in Maine for a few summers. One of my favorite trips was a 10-day sailing trip along the coast of Maine. We took a few 20-30' boats out with a whole bunch of kids from a summer camp. I was the counselor. It was pretty incredible and a remarkable learning experience. Later I became a professor at a Maritime College. I taught students that showed up in uniform and said "Yes Sir." They would become army kids, navy kids, marines, coasties, and merchant marines. I can't live too far from lakes or oceans or spend too long without them. I get homesick.

One of my favorite poems is now released to the world free from copyright stuff. It's called Sea Fever. It's by John Masefield.

Sea Fever

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

I set a heading and I haven't veered

Recently @netuoso from the Minnow Support Project was the 4th Witness from the Minnow Support Project to enter the top 20 witnesses. One of the moderators reminded us "don't forget why you're there." I then had a random comment on my witness post some 5 months after I released it. It made me go back and look at what I had written.

Aggroed's Witness Announcement

I'm so happy and excited to get to launch this campaign. Together we can work on growing this community and helping the newest members become successful. We all want this site and platform to grow so that it's message can resonate across the internet and make an impact in your daily life. I value Peace, Abundance, and Liberty and with your help; others who share those values and learn those values will come here and stay here!

The world is run by immoral banksters that cause us all harm. Through spreading technology that loosens their monopoly on money creation we free ourselves from their shackles. It's imperative that we work together to spread Steemit to others and help this platform grow. That's why I'll dedicate my time, energy, and focus as a Witness to the growth of Steemit!

For many on the Witness list they see this role as programming new apps and widgets that give new features to the product. It's a wonderful contribution. This platform wouldn't be where it is today without it. However, at it's current stage and size the Steemit platform has evolved enough so that one new feature or tweak to the platform isn't going to cause a mass migration here. We're not limited by the tools at hand, but by the number of people who know how to wield them and why they should.

This platform's message will spread by rallying our community around new people, showing them the ropes, and rewarding their success. It will grow by reaching out person by person to bring new members into the community. They will stay if they can find a way to start with nothing, connect with others, and grow their audience and their accounts.

The next stage of Steemit rests in the hands of educators, sales and marketing, and our community outreach. As a teacher, as an educator, as a communicator, as an activist, and as a passionate advocate for Steemit I know we can spread our message and our platform. I know if we do that then we can build a better world.

For those that can envision a better world filled with Peace, Abundance, and Liberty I ask that you upvote and resteem this post and you vote for me as witness!

I keep using the sailing anology

Peace, Abundance, and Liberty to you are mostly like nouns describing things. To me they are verbs and headings. Peace isn't a static thing. It's something in motion and constantly flowing. The rules of what's peaceful behavior shift as circumstances shift. It's the same with abundance and liberty. In my mind 5 months and 15 days ago when I set my witness campaign on a heading of Peace, Abundance, and Liberty I didn't know what I was getting into. I didn't know I'd have a 5,000 person Discord server within a month or two. I didn't know that this platform would elevate me to a top witness. I had no idea I'd work this hard to fashion a digital home in this ecosystem.

And as I think about what did I promise to do? What am I doing? What was my course? I'm actually pretty proud. It's like a glowing hot ember in my chest. It's like the feeling I had when I graduated with my chemistry degree. It's like the first time my daughter was able to say the words "I love you dad." It's a mix of contentment and pride in what I've done.

This hasn't been an easy ride. Not only have I worked as hard or harder than ever before in my life as I juggle two young children, a marriage with ups and downs, a full time job where I'm hiring a team, a witness campaign, and community that I run, but I'm also talking about the trip I took to get here. I don't believe what they teach in classes or what the anchor man says anymore. I've lost my faith in this government and recognize the harm and fraud in the system. Getting to a point that I could see it, and open my eyes, and unlearn what I had learned took multiple depressions, many years, lost friends, and marital challenges. It's been a hell of trip to get here, and I'm just taking a pause to say: "I'm staying the course, I'm doing what I set out to do, and I'm grateful to this community for supporting me on the way to do that."

A fear

My biggest fear is that one day my daughters will know the truth about how harmful this system and it's leaders are, and they will ask me "Dad, did you know? What did you do?" and all I can hope is that the answer I provide is enough to satisfy my heart and theirs. So, it's my ultimate wish to do as my mother said, and leave this world a better place than the one I found, and I've set my eyes upon a world that's Peaceful, Abundant, and Civil Liberties are paramount.

A Wish

So, when I set out on this course I had a simple and ambitious goal. I want to change the world. I don't like what I see. I don't like the violence. I don't like that the US government is bombing seven nations. I don't like the financial wars. I don't like seeing what our leaders are doing. I don't like living in a system that guarantees poverty. The private Federal Reserve bank purposefully manipulates the economy to shuffle wealth from the poor to the rich and the best piece of evidence is in the score board where 8 people have as much wealth as 3.5 billion. And I can't stand the surveillance state. I don't want my children groped by TSA agents, or living in fear of using their voice to protest and change what they see. It's a simple wish, but I want the world to change.

A Witness

As Bad Santa said "Wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which fills up faster." Wishes alone are not enough. I grew up as a wrestler and honed my body and mind in the gym at a young age. Across the wall was "The desire to fly is not enough. You must have wings." So, again I have set my mind and body to the task of altering the world. Not just wishing it, but setting a heading and doing the tough work to make a different life and teach a different life that I know is possible. I have to say it's nothing short of a grueling pace I've set. There's hardly any time that I get to myself to simply relax, but this world isn't going to unfuck itself. So, the witness gig to me is my enactment on my desire to see world change, and I'm grateful for your support.

A Whale

Last night after almost a year and a half of nearly constant work I hit 50,000 SP. I'm now officially a whale. I don't much look like a whale because I delegate nearly every SP I have to a variety of projects and accounts that support minnows, but I'm a whale nonetheless. I'm going to continue my efforts, my campaign, and my course to spread the values of Peace, Abundance, and Liberty. Grow the Steem platform, and train and retain minnows on it.

In the meantime, before my kids are old enough to ask wtf is going on with the world, what keeps me going?

Here's a clip from the Minnow Mayor Town Hall radio show I hold. It's an open forum where anyone can come on and talk about stuff with me. Here's @staceyjean. She's a vet and has some social anxiety and shit she's working on. I've been resisting balling my eyes out from this interview for a day or two, but it definately hit me square in the feelz. The work I'm doing is creating a better world for folks to find a slice of peace in. I just need to keep doing what I'm doing, but keep making it bigger one person at a time.

Thanks for you support and thanks for this opportunity. It's an incredible opportunity to serve.

2 details

This post was made on mspsteem.com. It's like condensor but it's run by the Minnow Support Project (thanks @netuoso) and it has a 5% beneficiary to @minnowsupport to help the account grow.

I'm hosting a Steem Growth Forum this Saturday at 11am EST (1600 UTC) in PALnet Discord room. Lots of find people should be there. Hopefully you're one of them: https://discord.gg/dpGVBcy.