This morning on NPR I listened to a story about Poppa Neutrino. He is a man in his eighties who plans to sail a junk raft across the Pacific Ocean from San Fransisco to China for the 2008 Olympics. Sounds insane and foolish I know, but he sailed from New York City to Ireland a decade ago on a junk raft with his family.
I am not the type of person who can live on the streets, simply knowing I will have enough food to live and able to find shelter in pine boxes or abandoned cars, but something about Poppa inspires me.
Watch the short video YouTube about Poppa Neutrino that I embedded below. It is from the documentary entitled Random Lunacy.
I don’t know the man, or much about him, but if he is a decent person, kind and loving to his family, friends and the people he meets along his journey, then it seems to me that he is a hero of sorts.
In the NPR story he spoke about the people of Massachusetts town where he built the Atlantic raft. He told about how those people there gave him a diesel generator for the raft and much of the materials to make it seaworthy. Someone who is mean or crazy does not usually generate enough goodwill to find benefactors like that.
With his family in tow he traveled Mexico and the states, busking for money with his band, The Flying Neutrinos. Now the band is ran by his daughter, Ingrid. I actually like her music a lot…
Sometimes it is so hard to keep in mind that we should allow ourselves the right to see ‘everyday magic’, but clearly Poppa has lived his life following that rule.
OK, I just wanted to share, this one was too bizarre and good not to let others know about it.
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