Wind and Ambivalence.

I’ve mentioned before on this blog that I once crossed the Atlantic in a small frigate while a force 11 storm was raging. You’d think it would be a little frightening, wouldn’t you, pacing a deck that was pitching, yawing and rolling, and being over-towered by a 40ft high swell topping the deep ocean? It wasn’t; all I felt was exhilaration. And yet sitting in this house with a wind gusting to maybe 40mph outside, I feel threatened.

I think the reason is that when you’re out and about in a storm, the wind is blowing past you; it’s ignoring your presence and going about its own business; it’s almost like a fellow passenger on the road of life. When you’re shut in a house, however, the wind is all around you, laying siege to your castle. It’s become the enemy at the gates.