Alright, so my first post and it has to deal with a situation that is literally close to home. Most of my friends, who happened to be married, have no problem with this but there are a few that I know that need a little reminder of the real importance of priorities in life.
Admiral Byrd sat on the icy shelf of the Antarctic, to be more precise, the Ross Barrier. The blizzard that raged, plunged the temperature to a frigid seventy below. This one solitary figure sat on a cot in an outpost in this frozen desert, at times near death due to a carbon monoxide leaking form a faulty stove. He pondered some of the last words of an explorer to this same region who did not survive just twenty-two years earlier, Captain Scott, “For God’s sake look after our people!” And he, Admiral Byrd, suddenly realized how wrong his own sense of values had been, how in the end all that really matter to a man is his family.
“The family is an everlasting anchorage. The family is a quiet harbor. . .”
He felt that he must put those thoughts down before they escaped him, while his mind was till clear. Harmony with in oneself and the family circle: that was an important part of his Admiral Byrd’s philosophy he had been working out for himself, alone in the Antarctic.
This lone explorer did not die, he managed to survive weeks and months of solitude. He knew now that the simple unpretentious things in life could be most important. From these notes that he wrote down during this lonely period, he later wrote his famous book Alone, from which these four inspiring paragraphs, the gist of his philosophy, are quoted:
“The universe is an almost untouched reservoir of significance and value,” and a man need not be discouraged because he cannot fathom it. His view of life is no more than a flash in time. The details and distractions are infinite. It is only natural, therefore, that we should never see the picture whole. But the universal goal-the attainment of harmony-is apparent. The very act of perceiving this goal and striving constantly toward it does much in itself to bring us closer and, therefore becomes an end in itself. . .
I realized how wrong my sense of values had been, and how I had failed to see that simple, homely, unpretentious things of life are the most important. . .
When man achieves a fair measure of harmony within himself and his family circle, he achieves peace and a nation made up of such individuals and groups is a happy nation. As the harmony of a star in its course is expressed by rhythm and grace, so the harmony of a man’s life –course is expressed by happiness. . .
At the end only two things really matter to a man, regardless of who he is; and they are the affections and understanding of his family. Anything and everything else he creates are insubstantial; they are ships given over to the mercy of the winds and tides of prejudice. But the family is an everlasting anchorage, a quiet harbor where a man’s ship can be left to swing in the moorings of pride and loyalty.
From his time on the lonely Ice Shelf, he learned and as I am learning and coming to understand as time goes on, what philosophers of every age have taught – what Thoreau proved at Walden, Gandhi demonstrated all his life and what a babe, born in a manger nearly two thousand years ago and in whom we give the sacredness of this season a name to, tried and tries still to teach us – “that a man can live profoundly without masses of things.” I have learned from past actions and decisions of life that much of the bitterness and unhappiness in life comes from not knowing how little we need . . . how very much we have when there are love and understanding with the family circle.
“I live more simply now, and with more peace,” the Admiral wrote when he was back in civilization. This philosophy I have not perfected but am l still striving to perfect. I have gained a better sense of values as I have gotten older and I am trying to live more simply with more peace.
Admiral Byrd is a man to admired and even used as a role model, unlike today’s selfish role models for fatherhood. Politicians and Hollywood need to do a better job at setting a higher standard instead of making a joke out fathers, making them look silly and hapless; although I do a pretty good job of that on my own without anyone's help.
There are some things I still need to learn, but in the bigger view of things there is one that I need help with. To ”live more simply.” Darn technology keeps tripping me up, but man I love my technology.
