I'm not a captain, I don't even own a boat, but many years ago I discovered sailing on an old schooner at the hands of a canary with straw hair and a nose forever bald by the sun.
I remember happy days when you lost your watch and your shoes, a strange calm of the soul in which everything seemed dwarfed by an immeasurable sea: it was a sweet renunciation of the everyday where other rules prevailed and you were left at the mercy of the elements. And despite the fact that the journey was sometimes uncomfortable, either due to excess sun or having to clean yourself with salt water, since we did not have a water treatment plant and fresh water was a scarce commodity destined exclusively for consumption, it was always worth it. . Being surrounded by the sea made you feel free.
I remember those sunsets between islands, how can I not remember them, leaning on the bow with the aria of “O mio babbino caro” resounding and the emotion of the moment culminating in a furtive tear. I remember the shapely young bodies, the carefree laughter and the look of those who are no longer there.
And navigating those long hours, with the dolphins sometimes accompanying us, playful, on both sides of the boat, you asked yourself the eternal questions. At that time, the pleasure of thinking for the sake of thinking and the curiosity to discover were not clouded by the weight of the daily routine. Back then you weren't even aware of how happy those moments were.
I have always wondered about the human condition. The prevailing individualism and the loss of cooperation often make the well-known phrase that I learned in my old Latin classes resonate in my ears: “Homo homini lupus”. Despite this and all those psychopaths who luckily are a minority but who always end up making noise in their banal display of strength, I still believe in the human being.
And it is at sea where I have heard stories in which altruism, empathy and a sense of shared humanity continue to save many lives. But the protagonists remain anonymous heroes far from the spotlight. And that, in a world where the exhibitionism of everyday life in the networks has won the pulse of the preservation of privacy, where virtual life is for many more life than real life, says a lot about them.