Editorial: Misadventures in Paddling

December 2001 - January 2002

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

by Alan Wilson

COVER PHOTO:Courtesy of Sealegs Kayaking www. SealegsKayaking.com

When we set our Editorial Calendar, over a year ago, we decided this would be an issue on humourous misadventures. We had in mind some fun for ourselves, some comic relief. We had no idea how welcome this break would be, considering world events this fall.
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When things are bleak, laughter soothes our spirits. Laughing releases pent-up distress, helps us regain perspective and balance, reminds us of life's imperfections. It redeems and renews us.

If you look up the word 'humour' you'll find references to the four 'humours', the fluids determining a person's health and temperament (after the ancient physician Galen's four temperaments). This system roughly corresponds to our modern concept of the endocrine system and hormonal bodily fluids.

Humour actually comes from the Latin word for 'moist', the Greek word for 'wet'. And it takes us back to our fluid natures, just like paddling. Human beings are over 70% water. We're primarily liquid beings-water bags. We live as long as inner waves pulse out to our extremities. We pour liquids of all kinds into ourselves to keep our fluid levels up. Fluids in, fluids out-all day long. And we revel in the touch of water, jumping into baths, pools, or oceans whenever we get the chance.

Humour puts us in touch with this fluid nature, the briney pulse of life. Smilessurface, mirth bubbles, tears gush. We spasm with waves of delight. We flood with feelings.

And this is good for us. It helps restore the balance of our 'humours', it gets things moving in us, making us less rigid, more flexible.

Paddling and laughing are a great prescription for what ails us. So read on. We hope you'll have a few laughs on us.

©Alan Wilson

PS: US readers will notice that Canadians spell 'humour' with a 'u'. We do the same thing with words like colour and harbour, etc. It's one of those little things which some of us wear like a badge of honour (oops, there it is again), as if we needed a bridgehead against continentalism. French-Canadians spell it 'humeur'. The British also use a 'u'. You'd think this is just another great example of our joint French and British heritage, but I hear it's really a later affectation-one of those little bubbles of 'Canadian Culture' in a sea of Americanism.