Blog post:
Today I got the application for the Unlicensed Apprentice Program at the Paul Hall Center of the Seafarers International Union (seafarers.org).
One of the requirements is this essay. There are many other requirements having to do with physicals and background checks. Before I begin working on getting my MMD, TWIC, physicals (-$400+), it would be good to see if I can write this essay and to think things through more.
I may be as much as 20 years older than some of the people in this program. There are other options for college grads, but here, once in, your finances are covered.
Why this rather than 50 million other things I could do? I really don't know (a moment of terror, a glimpse of the void). Here are a few ideas.
I seem to appreciate the structure. I should be able to, eventually, work my way through the requirements and bureaucracy. Without the requirements and hoops to jump through, how would I structure my life? Mike M. has got a boat and a dream and the will to sail across the pacific hunting and gathering along the way. Others have dreams for what they can make happen or grow on some land. I don't!
Let's take a second to consider the possibility of going with Mike M or Redpillsailor. The only comparable thing I've done is helping Rod on his house at Earthaven. I learned a lot but did not stay. Redpill sounds nice and reasonable. Mike more creative and skilled. . . Why would I trust bureacracy over these very personal opportunities? There is the issue of money equaling freedom. As a licensed mariner I can sail for money part of the time and take the more personal opportunities the rest of the time.
The structure of the bureacracy is like the structure of genres of writing. The sonnet is highly structured. Generally the novel is too. Most people's lives are as well. I'm somewhat outside the lines--not as far as Mike M, perhaps, but I've been making relatively free-form life-poetry for 20+ years now?
If you can jump through the hoops, maritime careers
Essay.
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