A quotation

[Rod]

While reading a book recently about the Portuguese method of dory fishing for cod fish on the grand banks and in the Davis straight off Greenland I came across this quotation. It immediately reminded me of thoughts various members have discussed on the DAP forum in the past and I though I would share it as it was very stimulating to me and I thought might be of interest to others on the list.
The dory cod fishermen practiced their dangerous craft individually, in very harsh conditions and in the midst of and in competition with the efficient, giant, fishing factory trawlers. The method they use is traditional and has been followed by Portuguese for centuries in the same manner.

“ We are neither seduced nor satisfied by wealth; by the added comfort which technical achievement brings; by the machine which makes man a less important element; by the craze for mechanization; by brute force, immense, colossal, unique though it may be, so long as these things are not touched by the wing of the spirit and brought into the service of a life which becomes increasingly more beautiful, more generous and more noble… We seek to make our fields more fertile without silencing the happy songs of the girls who labor in them…. The spiritual element which is the source, the soul, and the very life of our history, keeps us apart from a civilization which is going back to barbarism… We do our utmost to preserve… the simplicity of life, the purity of custom, the gentleness of feeling, the equilibrium in social relations, the familiar atmosphere of Portuguese life , so modest but so dignified, and in this way, through the preservation of our traditions, to maintain ourselves in peace.”

Quoted in F.C.C. Egerton’s “Salazar of Portugal” published by Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1943

[Mark Cowdrey]

Right on! That is beautiful.
Thanks Rod.
Mark

[dominiquer60]

It is truly the same song that can be sung around the whole world, keep the culture alive!

[Carl Russell]

Nice to read this quote to start this day. Thanks Rod.

I used to visit Nova Scotia on vacations, exploring back roads and little villages. One such adventure landed me in a small restaurant in a fishing village that was tucked into a natural harbor on a straight between two islands that extended off the end of the Bay of Fundy near the Grand Banks. On the wall was a painting depicting the traditional fishermen who had originated the village. A single man in a dory, with a hand line, with cod piled above the gun’als with darkening skies and rising seas, with no land in sight. And these guys rarely knew how to swim.

I am not a seafarer, spending my entire working life with my feet planted firmly on, or in, the soil, but the raw exposure to the elements, the expressed determination, the comfort of skill and craft was so evident that I was brought to tears, and couldn’t take my eyes off the painting while eating there.

What a tragic downward spiral our culture has been on. Thankfully there are still some of us who can’t ignore that part of life that is…..

Quote:

touched by the wing of the spirit and brought into the service of a life which becomes increasingly more beautiful, more generous and more noble…

We can climb out of this abyss, one righteous life at a time.

Thanks again Rod, Carl

[Mark Cowdrey]

Carl,
Your painting story reminds me of “The Herring Net” by Winslow Homer.

http://www.artstor.org/indexers/10020/2-the-herring-net.html

Mark

[Carl Russell]

Mark Cowdrey;21907 wrote:

Carl,
Your painting story reminds me of “The Herring Net” by Winslow Homer.

http://www.artstor.org/indexers/10020/2-the-herring-net.html

Mark

No doubt…. hangin’ ass off the side of that dory to pull in the nets:eek:

Carl

[mitchmaine]

There was this glouscester fisherman named howard blackburn fishing the grand banks way back. He and his dorymate were handlining cod and got lost in the fog and rowed around for two days looking for their schooner and finally gave up and decided the best plan was to row for Newfoundland. No short distance, they rowed for days until his partner decided to die. Howard wrapped him up in a tarpaulin and continued rowing. Worried about losing his oars, he took off his wool mittens and dipped his hands in seawater and froze them to the oars. He headed west, rowing until he finally made it to land. He still had to row south along the shoreline until he came to a village that pried his hands from his oars, put him up for the winter, and shipped him back home the next spring. All his friends were delighted to see him, chipped in and bought him a bar, and he served drinks to old fisherman for many years to come and became the local celebrity. When man fights nature, it’s an honorable fight win or lose, nature is quite honest and the rules are clear, you get your hay in or you don’t, you live or you die. The artificial world we live in is less distinct. We shoot the arrow into the barn wall and draw the bullseye around it later to determine success.

Carl, if mark’s right and your painting was the homer I’m thinking about, I love that painting. Even if its different, I know how you feel about it.

Rod, your quote speaks for itself. Wow.

mitch

[jac]

Rod that quote brings it home to me just how fast we as a society have slipped into that abyss Carl mentioned.!! basic skills all but gone.. replaced with what ??? Non sustainability…. Mitch that was a great story of human endevour.. if thats the right word.. Thank you guys, for anchoring me again…
John

[Author]

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