Too often these days, the very air seems to buzz with chaos and strife. News of war, natural disasters, political upheaval, divisiveness, all seem to swirl in a daily storm of greed and anger and fear. On mornings when it gets to be too much, I drift in some quiet cove aboard the Little Dipper and whisper “Lifted.”
Fred Hansen was a long-time fisherman on Sand Island during the early 1900’s. Commercial fishing at a time when the catch brought just 7 cents a pound was a life of hard, repetitive work, quiet days accomplishing vital tasks like lifting the gill nets that formed the center of the family business day after day after day. As difficult as it was, there was a cadence to such a life that from the lens of modern times seems almost hypnotic, a chant to how life should be — calming, simple, understandable, even if a little difficult. Hansen captured that cadence in the succinct entries of a journal he kept beginning in 1913. In my mind, it reads almost like a chant:
June 1913
2 Lifted.
3 Lifted. Through with plowing and seeding.
5 Lifted. Had a birthday party in the evening - everyone had a god time.
15 Got up at 3 - went over to Brownstone and trolled; caught 9.
16 Lifted. The price raised to 7 cents.
We all need a touchstone occasionally, a reminder that sometimes the best thing is simply to do one thing at a time, to focus on the task in front of you even if that task is difficult. For me, there is a calm among the chaos that comes when I can close my eyes, take a deep breath, and whisper, “Lifted.”
— Jeff Rennicke (all photography by the author unless otherwise noted)
Jeff, Thank You! We all appreciate the reminder and need more of those special moments to rise up in appreciation.
Beautiful reminder, thank you for the lift :)