Today Eric Funk and I watched PIRATE FOR THE SEA, a documentary about Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd, at the Durango Independent Film Festival. When we emerged, we had difficulty speaking. We both felt a need to vow to do something in life that would truly make a difference. Voicing failed; we wrote things down.
At some point in our adult lives, we accept that it’s enough to do the small things, not to do the big things. For some of us it is NOT enough, and sometimes, rarely, we are faced with a reminder of this, and that is a gift. We must not ignore the calling but etch it on heart and soul and spirit. Some people believe they long for a small thing (for a lifetime partner, for instance), even obsess over it, and overwriting, never recognizing, never seeing through its disguise for the hunger of spirit for the BIG thing. To do the big thing is to entirely, actively, be one’s self. It’s not enough for this to be philosophy. It is integrity and must be lived.
To witness Paul Watson is to feel the grief of unpassed boundaries, of the accepting of limits within one’s self. To ignore or soothe this ache is to call it acceptable and die with it. Eric says, “If you can figure that out, you can enjoy the small things more.”
Excuses for doing only the small: I’m too tired, too old, too busy, too crazy, too obligated—especially the last. Eric has been thinking on Matthew 25:14, the Parable of the Talents. The person who risks everything, using all he has been given, is most abundantly rewarded. No one loses anything but the person who risks nothing he has been given.
This was the most life-changing film I’ve ever seen.
