I Can't Bear To Watch the News Today

Yesterday was the latest multiple shooting here in the U.S.  This one was in Washington D.C.

The shooter was a depressed, anxious and disgruntled young man whom authorities believe slipped across the state line into Virginia (where there are little or no state restrictions on buying guns) and bought this semi-automatic rifle:

It's called an AR-15. It was created for use in the American armed forces. It is excellent for battle because it is lightweight, easy to use and reload, and it can kill many people in a short period of time.

It is either illegal or very difficult for civilians to purchase and own in nearly all western countries.

But in the US, there are no federal restrictions on semi-automatic weapons like this one.

              There is even a "Hello Kitty" version available for purchase here in the US


The AR-15 was used in many of our most famous recent American mass-shootings, and for good reason. It's an extremely efficient killing machine.

 They are still gathering information about the latest shooter. But what they do know is he was a big fan of violent video games. "You could say he was obsessed with them," said one media personality. Literally every mass shooter has spend hour after countless hour obsessively playing them. In their minds, I think, they are literally "in training" for "the big day."

      Speaking of violent video games and the media, Grand Theft Auto 5 came out recently, to little or no uproar or outrage by the media, or strangely, even by conservative family organizations.

        Violent shooting video games like Grand Theft Auto are used by our military to train special forces units for battle. They do this very efficiently and realistically. It's kind of like how pilots train in those flight simulators. It's not much of a jump to go from the computer generated image to the real thing.

  Anyway, each time Grand Theft Auto comes out with a new version, the news media basically gushes about how cool it is, and how fresh and realistic the effects are.

 By the way, Grand Theft Auto isn't just about stealing cars and violent automatic weapon battles. It also features crack cocaine, rape and prostitutes.

 Cool.

Chris and I were in Roatan, Honduras when the Sandy Hook murder-suicide took place (that's what they are, by the way: these shooters to a man are despondent and suicidal, as are Islamic terrorists).  That was the one where a couple of dozen children and teachers were killed. We happened to be traveling with several  Canadians during this time.

The Canadians looked at Chris and I and asked with calm, sincere,  clear-eyed honesty:

"Wow. What's going on in your country? Why doesn't anyone want to change things? How can you live this way?"

Well. It's kind of hard to explain...

The rest of the civilized world looks at us this way as well. They truly don't understand.

Anyway, this morning the news is showing politicians say that their "thoughts and prayers" are with the victims and their families.  This is getting a bit tiresome.

To me, if you are a politician, and you take money from the NRA and you pass laws that make automatic weapons easily available to basically anyone, then you come on TV and say that your "thoughts and prayers" are with the victims and their families -- well -- I'll let you be the judge.

 Another thing I'm tired of? The media asking: "How could this happen?"

 We know how it happens -- and why.  There is no more mystery to it.

 The Randy Newman's song I Just Want You To Hurt Like I Do pretty much explains the mental/emotional state of these shooters:

                 If I had one wish, one dream I knew would come true;

                      I'd want to speak to all of the people of the world;

                       I'd get up there, I'd get up there on that platform;

                        I'd talk to the people, and I'd say:

                        'It's a rough, rough world -- it's a tough, tough world;

                          And things don't always go the way we plan;

                               But there's one thing we all have in common;

                                And it's something everyone can understand;

                            I just want you to hurt like I do;

                            I just want you to hurt like I do;

                            I just want you to hurt like I do --

                            Honest, I do -- honest, I do -- honest, I do.'

                                       -- Randy Newman, "I Just Want You To Hurt Like I Do."

So I'm not watching the news today.  Watching it -- well -- it tears a bloody hole in my gut.

And I don't want to hear the question: "Why do they do it?" anymore.

Because we know why they do it.

They do it because they can.







  

GET OFF THIS BOAT!!!!!!!

The dinghy of our friends on Beez Neez hangs lifeless after being intentionally punctured and slashed by an unknown vandal.

      First, the good news. Espiritu enjoyed an uneventful one night passage from Roatan, Honduras to Belize, and is now anchored happily at Placencia, Belize. For the first time in many, many passages, there was not a single storm or engine failure. What a blessed relief.

 Honduras, statistically speaking, is one of the most dangerous countries on the planet. They have the highest murder rate in the world. Higher than Somalia, people. While most of that murdering happens on the Honduran mainland and is drug related, the island of Roatan is not an unviolent place.

 During our two months there, we heard stories. Like the one from our friend Al, an American expat with a beautiful waterfront home in Sandy Bay. When he had us over for dinner, he took us on a tour of the grounds. Pointing to his neighbor's high end home, he shared in passing:

"Yeah. He was murdered last night. They slashed his throat."

Sure enough, there was police tape around the area and a policeman guarded the area to prevent the evidence from being tampered with.

We were stunned at his lazze-fare reporting of this news. Just another day in Honduras.

 Mike and his pregnant wife Lilo, the owners of the Brooksy Point Yacht Club where we stayed in Roatan, live on the grounds in a lovely yellow house with their 3 children, Jean Pierre, Stephanie and Maria.

Maria and me. She speaks English and French, but Spanish is her native tongue.

Mike's house and grounds are surrounded by a high fence, but he's also got 12 German Shepherds roaming and protecting the property. TWELVE.

One of the 12 German Shepherds that guard Brooksy Point. The heart shaped water bowl is a nice touch. :-)

      So, security is a big thing here, clearly.

    Our friends aboard Beez Neez awoke one morning to find their inflatable dinghy slashed and partially sunken. No explanation was ever found.

     I thought I would wait until we've safely left Honduran waters before I shared the following story.

While in French Harbor, Roatan (Honduras) Espiritu was boarded one morning at 4AM.

   This is basically every cruisers worst nightmare, I think -- or anyway, it's right up there with storms, broken impellers and empty margarita pitchers.

  So, here's how it went down: We were sleeping soundly in the v-berth, when I heard Chris suddenly rouse and then sit perfectly still, like a hound, seeking and listening for it's prey. Then he yelled:

GET OFF THIS BOAT!!!!!!!!!!!

 We both bounded our of bed, scrambling in the pitch blackness. Chris had seen a shadowy figure in the cockpit. While Chris stormed towards the intruder, I headed straight for the nav station. I had long ago decided that if we were ever boarded at night, MY job would be to flood the boat with light. In the middle of a crowded anchorage, this is our best ally.

GET OFF THIS BOAT!!!!!!!!!

Chris's actions made me think of a heroic Harrison Ford character, firm yet non-violent. 

Chris proclaimed the command again as he stormed into the cockpit. Since Chris sounded every inch the captain that he is, the intruder promptly aborted the mission, obeyed the command, jumped off of Espiritu and back into his carved out canoe and quickly paddled off into the blackness.

 The old Texan aboard the boat next to Espiritu's called out loudly "You want me to shoot 'im?" from across the water.

 The intruder, fearful now, cried in a thick Caribbean accent: "Hey, mon, I only wanted some water!"

 Well. He may have wanted a bit more than that. Anyway, now that the spreader lights bathed Espiritu's deck with light, I was able to catch a glimpse of the guy as he rowed quickly away. He did not look or sound dangerous. He looked kind of poor, sad and scared.

 Chris and I hugged each other in relief. A quick check of the deck confirmed that nothing had been stolen.

This is a good time to share our secret weapon which, in my opinion, is the main reason this story had a happy ending: our burglar alarm.

But it's not officially a burglar alarm. It's a bug screen, which we made to cover the companionway hatch at night while we sleep.

The piece-de-resistance?   It's connected to the boat on all four edges with velcro, with it's tell-tale RRRRRIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPP! sound.

Our burglar alarm. It performed it's job well.

  Any intruder, fumbling in the darkness, would not see the velcro, and would unintentionally fire up the burglar alarm upon trying to enter the cockpit. It was this sound that roused Chris and put the crew into action.

  Well, as you can imagine, the next morning we were the talk of the anchorage. Everyone wanted to know how we felt. Did we feel angry?  Violated?

 Nope. I only had one emotion the next morning: gratitude. And relief.  Nothing was stolen. Nobody was hurt. In my opinion, this was a very good boarding. One where everything went right.

  Petty theft is everywhere, because there are unemployment and poor people everywhere. This guy -- while I did not want him on our boat, and I did not want to give him our things -- did not seem dangerous or violent.  I don't think he wanted to rape me or kill anybody.

  If you go to the movies or watch TV these days, all you see is uber-violent, sadistic murderers, killers and rapists.

Hey, kids! Let's go to the movies! 

           Call me naive (and many have), but I believe that the majority of crimes are not done by the guys you see in the movies.

The classic Saw II. While the film is rightly acknowledged for it's sparkling and intelligent script, it lacked the playful whimsy of Saw I. And as everyone knows, the nuance, script progression and deeply-wrought characterizations made Saw III the brilliant and unsurpassed cinematic achievement that it is. Well done, boys.  :-/

Ahem. (In case my sarcasm was a bit too subtle above, let me make it plain. Saw II? Never saw it. Never WILL see it. Or any of the other Saws.  I would rather have a root canal, AND an appendectomy at the same time without anesthesia before seeing or watching, or financially supporting anything in the slasher-porn genre. The ways in which these films are bad for society are too many to mention here.)

I hate to break it to you, but guys like the ones portrayed in these movies -- while they may actually exist, are very, very rare. I honestly believe most people (and even most petty criminals) are basically good, just trying to get through the day and feed their families. They don't want to hurt anybody. I certainly believe this of our "boarder."

They rationalize their petty theft with a shrug: "They're rich. If we steal their iPod, camera and computer, they'll just go out and buy a new one."

The problem with that statement above?

They're RIGHT.  Well, we're not rich, but...we would have found a way, eventually, to buy a new iPod, camera and computer.

:-/

 So we don't pack heat on Espiritu. And it's a good thing, too, because if we had, things might have ended differently.

 This was a very good boarding.

So now that we are Belize, it does feel like a different world. Placencia seems very, very safe. It's filled with gringos -- which many people would say is a good thing, but I kinda miss the real Central America. Ah, well.







     
 
   

New photo round-up: Roatan, Honduras

                           The sun slips over the rim of the earth in French Key Harbor


   Well, our stay in Roatan is winding to a close.  After watching the Super Bowl tomorrow here with our friends at Brooksy Point (go, Niners!), Espiritu will finally pull anchor from this lovely place and head north for the one night sail to Placencia, Belize.

                             Here's a round-up of new photos of this magical Caribbean island:

                                                 You know we had to follow THIS sign...

                                       OK. I'm really going to miss the rain forest...

                       Clearly, the iguana population is thriving here in Roatan...

   ...REALLY thriving. Chris bravely ignores his "lizard-brain" instinct to get the hell out of there, remembering these guys don't kill humans. They might eat you after you're DEAD, but they won't KILL you.

          These guys have been around for millions of years, so they must be doing something right.

                             Check out the hands. And the face, which looks exactly
        like a mini T-rex (without the teeth, thankfully).  He's really a magnificent creature.

              And speaking of animals, everyone knows wild dogs are part of the scenery throughout Central America. As Chris and I ate our lunch at this small, outdoor eatery, several feral dogs strode up and sat, waiting for scraps. This happens every time. It's actually pretty sad.

                                                                   ...dog's eye view...

                        Espiritu is anchored right next to idyllic Little French Key.

                                          You can practically feel the silken-soft breeze...

                   And here are a few more scenes from around the island of Roatan:

                                                        The funky West End

                   A young Hondurano says: "Say Hello to my Little Friend..."

                                                   Sandy Bay dock

                     A patriotic youngster enthusiastically shares the colors of the Honduran flag

                                   A family lives in and runs this mountain banana farm

                                                               A rural Roatan home

         In a country where 99% of the children have dark hair and skin, it really saddens me that THIS is the toy they display in the window. Really?  It embarrasses me, and it kind of makes me mad. How hard is it to make dolls that look like the kids who will be playing with them?

             A backyard basketball net and white picket fence are subtle reminders of home

 A sign outside the Roatan Ace Hardware says "No Weapons." With the stockpiling of weapons that is apparently going on in the states, will signs like this be popping up across the U.S.A.?

                                          A banana tree blooms next to the main highway

              Cows graze on the soccer field when the kids aren't playing. No lawnmowers needed!

                 It continues to amaze me how quickly the rainforest engulfs telephone wires, etc.

             We ate at a restaurant that featured "Fried Conch." You don't see THAT in the states.
  The restaurant encourages tourists and locals to write messages on the walls, floors and ceilings of the eatery. It is covered in them, most of which are people writing their names, or saying "Great Food," etc.  But there were a couple of messages on the walls that were, to say the least, distinctive:

                                  (Yikes)

           A little boy stares wistfully at the sports field, too young to play. Gotta wait...

                                                                        Tranquil scene

                  The sign at the "Hospital Roatan" has seen better days...

               Typical beachfront home. The main reason for the stilts is to keep
                               sandflies out of the home, and to keep things cool.
                                   Hurricanes are actually rare here in Roatan.

        This very sweet local lady gracefully posed for me in her "Life is Better Cruising" t-shirt. Naturally, she doesn't speak English. She bought it used for 50 cents and has no idea what it says.
                   But I have a feeling she wouldn't have a problem with the message.   :-)

                    This was written in spray-paint, graffiti-style, on a wall in a rundown
              part of Coxen Hole. What does it mean? Is there a rogue, Jewish gang from
                                    New York running amok here in Roatan?           (LOL)

 Yes, poverty is everywhere in Central America. But there is also ingenuity. I love this pieced together fence. Ya gotta admit, there's a touching, "can-do" spirit at work here. An acknowledgement that, yes, they may not have much, but dammit -- they make do. They do the best they can with what they have.

                I loved this brother and sister ambling down the street. Her hand was placed so lightly, gracefully, protectively on her little brother's shoulder as they walked through a dicey part of town.

                                               Grace. It's everywhere if you look for it.

                   Roatan, Honduras -- you are permanently imbedded in my brain and heart.

                                                          We will never forget you.