The River Wave and the People – Lessons About Sharing [#32]

it was “Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” — Mark Twain

In 2017, when finishing my studies, everything called on me to get a normal job. All my fellow students were looking, my parents were asking - the pressure of society’s expectations dawned on me.

And me? I felt I needed to go travel. To see the world. To learn about myself and what will make me happy.

In hindsight, it was one of the best decisions of my life.

The stories and lessons I learned on the way stuck with me dearly, and I am still making sense of them almost 10 years later.

One of the stories is the story of the people in Guanico Playa, Panama.

I landed there through a coincidence: I wanted to do volunteering in a surf hostel and learn surfing. A fellow student overheard it and connected me to her uncle, who ran a surf hostel in that remote location of Guanico.

Lesson 1: If you have a dream, share it. There might be others who can help you make it real.

“Everything you believe in begins to exist.”
- Ilse Aigner

Landing there, I got to know the local people; many of the young ones were good surfers. They told me how life was over there, took me to local events, and we had fun.

They were very welcoming, also in the way that they shared the waves, which is not always the case.

For those of you who don’t surf, in some surf spots all over the world, there is a thing called “Localism”. Basically, it’s local people who have enjoyed the amazing surf for a long time, giving new people or visitors a hard time, because they don’t want to share their waves. And on the other side, often newcomers don’t know the rules or etiquette of surfing in crowded spots, which makes surfing there less fun.

So I got curious and asked them why they are like that.

They told me the story of the most amazing point break wave that they used to have in that bay of Guanico. It worked consistently. It was beautiful. It had peeling barrels, meaning you could get covered by the wave while surfing it - that’s the ultimate goal for some surfers.

It was so perfect that they did not want to share it. They tried to keep it a secret. They told people who came to surf it to go away. They were protective.

They were holding on to the wealth of nature. They didn’t share.

One day, the river that poured into the bay changed course due to heavy rain in the rainy season. The ground under the wave was altered irreversibly, and the wave stopped working.

It was a sad time for the local people, who loved the wave. But this got them thinking and changed their behaviour.

They didn’t want to lose more waves and started sharing again.

And let’s be honest, a fun, respectful vibe in the water doesn’t hurt to live a more joyful life either.

Lesson 2: If you have more than you need, share it. The wealth of the community of life needs to circulate freely to where it is needed.

With time, this second lesson ripened within me.

When reflecting on the challenges of today's world, one question spoke to me.

How to turn the financial wealth of our time into ecological, social, health, and survival returns?

Let’s face it: we live in a system that has gotten really efficient in turning materials and energy into money. And this money is getting stuck in bank accounts, stocks, and the like.

At some point, one has to ask the question: Will 1 million more in the bank actually be worth something in the future? Or may it be better to invest that money into a livable future on Earth?

Money, being a claim on future energy or materials, is a shared intrasubjective idea. It is worth something because we collectively believe in it. But in the pursuit of more, we are depleting the biophysical resources that underlie all of these beliefs.

“When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money.” - Native American Saying

In light of the lesson from sharing a wave, I believe everyone alive today who has the capacity to understand the situation we are in and the means to do something about it, has to ask themselves:

Where can I share my resources (financial, time, care, etc.) towards contributing to a healthier social and ecological environment and towards a meaningful and joyful future?

While most of these resources are clogged up in the top 1% of humans owning billions, we can all do our part, despite a system telling us differently.

What does this look like in practice:

• Taking time to change towards an ethical bank that doesn’t invest in fossil energy (but instead into the local economy, which, in my point of view, is a great risk management in the face of depleting resources).
• Volunteer for a cause you feel compelled by
• support your local economy - especially local food initiatives
• Find a tribe of like-minded people that you can rely on for support
• Take care of yourself so you can take care of others
• Care for your children
• support independent journalism in your region
• change career and work for more life-affirming organizations
• If you have spare money, give it to causes that you want to see grow
• Start that social business you have been thinking about

It comes down to choosing to be a good person, imagining the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible, and then taking concrete action to build it.

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”
- Mahatma Gandhi

Happy regeneration,
Jonas