great living or great life?

This morning I read about Maine zero-carbon lobsterman, Nat Hussey in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Funny to find an article about lobstering in Maine in an Arkansas paper, but it is news to some that a great life can be made from simple things. The same article can be found from the Associated Press on-line here.

Nat uses a 15 foot peapod, a hand-crafted traditional wooden boat with oars and sail, to propel himself between traps and uses his own strength to haul the traps, just as Mainers did before diesel powered boats and hydraulic winches began caffeinating the industry. Even with the carbon hungry, CO2 spewing accoutrements of the modern fishing industry, it is a rough and hardy life. Nat, at age 47, going near naked in comparison, seems to have earned the respect of his fellow lobstermen who have been known in the past to have shoot-outs over intrusions in each other's territories. I guess one man, a fragile wooden launch with oars and sail can't be seen as much of a threat. But he seems to have whittled a meaningful life for himself.

Nat had been a professional attorney and decided to go for something more spiritually rewarding and ecologically sustainable. He writes about it in his blog, Outpost Matinicus: Notes from the island, music and zero carbon lobster harvesting.

I can remember a few years back when the powerful people in America had decided that it was a good thing that we were no longer a nation of producers, manufacturers, etc... that we would thrive as an "information based economy." This was their steady mantra as they outsourced American jobs to squeeze more nickles from the American consumer and keep more dimes for themselves. Doesn't that make you question the nature of human intelligence? Get smart, get handy. Make, fix, plant, sew, make music, create, make life more meaningful and intelligent through the strategic implementation of your hands.