Day 20, Thursday, November 24, 2016, San Balsamo, 30 ° 31 S, 48 ° 29 W.

It is clear to me, even though you might not think so, that this red box is indeed like the boat’s “black box” and I do not want to distract myself for a second discussing it further. On board, truisms are relative and they shrink as the sea widens. The sea is like a school of philosophy!

Recently, I thought about something that happened years ago to my colleague and friend, José Miguel Sagüillo; a great logic teacher and currently Dean of the School of Philosophy at Santiago de Compostela University in Spain.

I dedicate this log entry to him and to my other colleagues, classmates, and teachers (Uxía, Nieves, Chis, Alfonso, Angel, Luis José, Rosa, Maite, Villegas, Guilermo, Marcial). With them, I learned what little I know about philosophy, but they were valuable lessons.

In 1977, Sagüillo, a bright young recipient of a US scholarship, was waiting to board a plane in Tenerife (Canary Islands), and saw with great disgust that boarding had been closed. He was left standing there with his ticket in his hand. Overbooking, which is the scam airlines companies run, was the excuse given to him then. Later on, once his initial anger subsided, he learnt that the Boeing 747 he was due to board had crashed into Los Rodeos, killing 583 people on board the flight. My friend Sagüillo caught the next plane, where life gave him another chance during that unforgettable journey. But that is another story. Blessed be the overbooking!

The philosophical question is, who knows what flight or what boat we should take? I ask myself this question every day aboard the boat Sarmiento de Gamboa as we get closer to Punta Arenas: should I continue my trip on the Gamboa, should I jump to the next boat, the Hesperides, or should I stay a couple of weeks in Tierra del Fuego? From the beginning of this adventure, I knew it would be this type of expedition: a journey whose rudder I do not command. I read the following conversation in a novel called Adrift in the Pacific: Two Years Holiday by Jules Verne, where a group of school children are shipwrecked on an island near the Straits of Magellan:
“It is a setback that the breeze has not kept up all day,” Briant said.
“It would have been worse if it became harsher,” Moko responded.
“You are a philosopher, Moko,” said Briant.
“I do not know the meaning of that word,” replied Moko, “but whatever happens, I never get discouraged.”
“That is philosophy,” replied Briant.

I wonder what is the best boat or path for my life? Moko’s philosophy is the answer. But for all the other questions in your life, answers can be found in the “black box” of our lives, which, as we all know by now, is red.

Happy weekend.

by Horizonte Antártida