Encouragers, Optimists and People Who Have (and Share) A Wealth Of Knowledge

[Captain Smollett]

I figured we needed a counterpoint to the Naysayer thread.   ;D

The world IS full of naysayers, but we can develop that filter to heed only the voices the encourage us.  The folks here at the SailFar forum have been so incredibly positive and encouraging to me personally that I would like the SailFar membership to be the first entries in our list of "Encouragers."

Thank-you SO MUCH to everyone here!

Some have posted a number of stories of positive influences, and our links pages are full of other (non-member) sailors doing "it" that gives us all inspiration.  What a tremendous resource, spiritual and physical, SailFar has become in the fight against "naysayers" and general negativity.

I am reminded of coworker Willie and family friend Nelson (really, those were their names, this is not a joke) who once helped me move my 19 ft camper to a safer location when a hurricane threatened south Florida in the mid 1980's.  Being semi-transient, I did not have straps on my 'home,' and the campground REQUIRED all non-secured units to be moved out.  I lacked a tow vehicle (I used my Dad's truck to move the camper when I moved it, but he and his truck were 800 miles away at the time), knew no where to move the camper to and had no further plan of action.

It came together with the help of Willie and Nelson (who did not know each other).  Willie had a truck and when I told him my 'story,' he offered to move it for me.  My camper was about 30 miles from Willie's home, yet he drove up, got my camper, moved it and then drove home...putting off time with his own family and getting his own home ready for the storm to help me.  After the storm, Willie drove all the way back up and moved my trailer back to my campground, and for all of this, he accepted NO PAYMENT (not even gasoline money, iirc).

Nelson provided the 'where.' He worked for one of the large south Florida newspapers, and arranged with his boss for me to put my trailer in one of their warehouses.  They did not charge me for that, either, but I "paid" my rent for the night by working in the warehouse alongside Nelson and his coworkers through the night.  Nelson also offered a couch as a place for me to sleep.

In the middle of the storm, what of it we actually got hit by, the little brother of a girl I was dating got appendicitis.  They had no car, so I took them to the hospital.  We had a mini-marathon wait at the hospital throughout his surgery, but he ended up being fine.  He awoke the next morning to fine weather and clear skies.  The stormy night had passed.

Weather, or more specifically, bad weather, is something many of us get VERY negative about.  But in this one 'storm,' I encountered the positive nature of close friends - I was in need and they did not bat an eye to help me; through their selfless help getting ME to a safe point, I was able to extend help to another family in need.  Would I have seen such positive nature had the weather not turned "bad?"

[Marc]

That is a feel good story Captain!!!  If everyone in the world were like that just think where we would all be today.  Marc

[maxiSwede]

I've got to repeat myself!

Beautiful!!  That's life at it's best...and isn't it interesting that something threatening from 'outside' often brings out the best in people? (well the opposite can be true at times as well, but we do prefer to FOCUS on he positives here, right?)

Forgive me for offering yet another alcohol beverage, I certainly don't want to enourage any excessive use....  ;) ;D