Oct 15 2008
A Question of Piracy
If you’re paying attention (always a question, since there’s so much going on these days in the world), the piracy thing is getting a lot of media attention lately. And people are genuinely freaked out. Everyone loves Jack Sparrow, but when faced with the reality of piracy, that there are scary folks out there on the high seas, with guns, tactics, and not a little desperation, they freak out.
Popular cruising magazines like Latitudes and Attitudes publish a piracy report. And the more commercial and online gCaptain also keeps track of piracy activities. Zac Sunderland just had a run-in with an oddly behaving boat off indonesian waters, and assumed pirates. When friends and family find out you’re planning on cruising, they immediately want to know how you’re going to protect yourself against pirates.
But here’s a piece from Thich Nhat Hanh’s book "Peace is Every Step" that stopped me in my tracks:
There are many young girls, boat people, who are raped by sea pirates. Even though the United Nations and many countries try to help the government of Thailand prevent that kind of piracy, sea pirates continue to inflict much suffering on the refugees. One day we received a letter telling us about a young girl on a small boat who was raped by a Thai pirate. She was only twelve, and she jumped into the ocean and drowned herself.
When you first learn of something like that, you get angry at the pirate. You naturally take the side of the girl. As you look more deeply you will see it differently. If you take the side of the little girl, then it is easy. You only have to take a gun and shoot the pirate. But we cannot do that. In my meditation I saw that if I had been born in the village of the pirate and raised in the same conditions as he was, there is a great likelihood that I would become a pirate. I saw that many babies are born along the Gulf of Siam, hundreds every day, and if we educators, social workers, politicians, and others do not do something about the situation, in twenty-five years a number of them will become sea pirates. That is certain. If you or I were born today in those fishing villages, we may become sea pirates in twenty-five years. If you take a gun and shoot the pirate, you shoot all of us, because all of us are to some extent responsible for this state of affairs.
So many people assume so much. Cruisers assume they’re on vacation, sailors assume they’re immune to shore side problems. But here’s a wake-up; the horrid conditions that people are born into reach beyond the borders of nations, and across seas. I believe that we, the sailing community, have been incredibly remiss in our approach to the issue of piracy, which
Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us, is actually an issue of poverty. And I believe that while prudence is called for in crossing waters known to have pirate traffic, I also believe that it’s worth our time and effort to assist in aid in those countries, whether through donation or direct action. Each one of the nations known to have heavy pirate traffic also has high levels of civil unrest and domestic violence. I’m choosing to donate to Doctors Without Borders, who are active in every one of those nations. Perhaps the baby you feed is the baby that does not have to resort to piracy in twenty-five years.
very compassionate thought!
Well said, Laureen! It’s always difficult for us to look on the site of those committing crimes, but they too are victims of their own upbringing and social standing. We as a global community have to look beneath the surface of events and behaviors.
After all, we are all human beings. We all want to be fed, clothed, and housed. We all want to be safe and happy. We share these things in common that we must never forget!
Love this post.
Hmm. Yes, poverty can lead to desperation. I commend your compassion and ability to look beneath the surface.
After reading this:
http://danieldrydenincidentdetails.blogspot.com/
it is very difficult for me to feel compassion, although I know this is what Christ would want from me. What I feel instead is such sadness and anger that people can be that immune to preserving the sanctity of life….that individuals are so brutal that they could kill a man, and stab an unarmed woman and not feel an ounce of remorse.
People sometimes do terrible things because they are terrible at heart, and that is the truth. They lack a moral compass. Casting blame on socio-economic issues is not the answer in many of these cases. People must be responsible for their actions, no matter where they come from.
The irony is that Nancy Dryden was a physical therapist and hoped to donate her skills to children in the local Guatemalan clinics.
Heya Jody…
There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all answer to sociological problems. My point was not that we should overlook heinous deeds and forgive the evildoers… my point was that cruisers need to be part of the solution, need to actively engage in helping the people who live in the areas they sail through. I think a lot of Americans especially tend to treat the world as their own private Disneyland, and are not nearly sensitive enough to the socioeconomic conditions in the areas they travel through. We tend to gussy up our yachts, wear jewelry worth a family’s food budget for a year, and think nothing of partying it up in places where life for the locals is not easy.
I do agree with you; some people are sheerly evil, and I have no problem putting them down like rabid dogs. But not everyone engaged in piracy is evil; many are simply desperate, and I do believe that compassion and aid is the answer there.
I’d also point out that we don’t actually know what those people were thinking. We don’t know there was no remorse. We know they committed or participated in a brutal act that should not be without consequence, but we can’t know what they were thinking at the time.
I don’t want to know what those men were thinking. Blek.
I agree that travelers should give back to the locals. Many places we visit take our tourist dollars and do nothing for the poor in their country. It is a huge shame, and one that does not have an easy fix. When BIll and I travel, we tend to shop off the main markets, and eat our dinners in the mom and pop palapas etc in Mexico instead of in the tourist district.
I don’t think it is limited to Americans. People in general need to care more about each other. I think the generosity of Americans, for the most part, really cannot be disputed. We have some amazing and compassionate people in our midst and it warms my heart when I see the things cruisers from our country are doing in 3rd world countries…..just some wonderfully kind hearted people.
We donate to the Lutheran World Relief program. It is an awesome group, and the money donated is taken right to the people. Also love Dw/outB. Compassion at its finest.