Across the Pacific (Chapter 6)- part one: Kon Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl. Jargon

"We realized that life had been full for men before the technical age also- in fact, fuller and richer in many ways than the life of modern man." I know how common technology is in the everyday lives of people today. People can get caught up in the latest trends and can want the newest innovation to date. I am not saying that technology is bad, but sometimes I know that I forget to respect and enjoy the simplicity of nature that surround me. I think that the quote above expresses Heyerdahl's realization of how wonderful nature really is. Heyerdahl related to the primitive peoples because they shared the common point of receiving joy from nature instead of technology. Although Heyerdahl was basically submerged into nature, he still was open to and accepted the joys from the ocean. Heyerdahl and his crew were given food and enjoyment from their surrounding ocean waters. An example of both was catching sharks with bare hands. The action of catching the shark provided entertainment while the shark meat provided food. Even though we may not be able to submerge ourselves into nature and fish for sharks with our bare hands, I think that we can all find time to stop and really take in the beauty of nature just as many have done before us. Nature connects us to those who have gone before us.

Heyerdahl and his crew uses the word "chips" to describe the measurement of speed that the raft passed a chip thrown ahead of the raft. The use of the word "chips" is jargon on board of the Kon-Tiki.







This is a picture of a shark caught by hand.