A boat, a dream, and a reality

So you may have heard. I am on a boat kick. I have been on many kicks in my day, jumping from this to that, dreaming about someday. This someday I would be rich I would be famous but most of all I would be who I want to be. Well it's not coming. Dreams are only dreams if they remain dreams to you.  You can not hope to accomplish ANY dream simply by dreaming about it.

I spent my childhood waiting to grow up then I spent my teen years not wanting to grow up. Then I began waiting again. Waiting for that day where my what my parents or a reasonable facsimile of them, has accomplished to happen for me. That day wont come where I am sitting now.

Debt, fatigue from the grind, and a lot of missed opportunities has left me feeling empty. Empty of those true accomplishments.I can't afford my life and I can't sustain this facade anymore.

I am drowning.

But here is where the boat kick comes in.  See what I did there?

I started thinking about owning a boat long ago but as all these things do the boat seeming unobtainable became a "someday" and became second to the things I needed to do. But recently a couple trips around my neighborhood I rekindled this desire and I began casually looking at the costs involved. That put it back into the realm of fantasy. I can't even afford rent and the bills how can I own a boat?

But I kept looking. Boats everywhere, but for anything nice it was expensive. But then I started looking at high end large boats and I was suprised to find out there are amazing vessels out their under 100K. I was astounded I rent an apartment and am insanely considering buying on for five times that.

What is wrong with this picture?

I have done my homework it is not cheap to own a boat. But I will tell you this much. It is owning. It is capital. For less than the cost of my apartment I can live on a OWN and live on 59 foot Ketch.

I mentioned this to Kerry and I swear I have the coolest wife in the world, because I am the one dude who could have a dream like that and their wife say. SURE!

I found a boat I could possibly afford. I look at it and think that is achievable. But as with anythings there are many cons and pessimistic ways of looking at it. But then again...

Dreams really do come true.

But only if you take the risks.

Children are not born scientists....

I often hear the phrase "children are born scientists", which on the surface sounds beautiful and is based on the fact that a child will ask "why" incessantly — so it seems plausible. In my opinion it is simply not true.

Children are born believers. A scientist does not ask "why?". A scientist finds out why. Unfortunately children are not built with the ability to seek any truth other than the truths given to them by their environment (parents, teachers, religious figures, or group leaders) and they are told to accept what is told to them and they simply do. Children need to develop critical thinking for themselves, much as we all likely had to at some point in our lives to bring us here.

What can we do to help our children grow up to think critically about their world? Stop answering your children’s questions about the world and start empowering them with the necessary tools.

Take your kids to the library with a list of questions they have asked and go find a book to help them use the index. When THEY locate the answer they will remember it. It was them that answered their own question.
Show your child Wikipedia and how to do searches within it.

Once they find the answer make sure you assure them they have done a very important thing. Celebrate their success in learning. Help them to formulate a response if ever asked the question. The pride they will feel when answering the question with "I went to the library and looked this up and..." versus "My mom said..." will be worth the extra time from your day to help your child become empowered.

Thoughts?