Where surfers are the same as conservatives

Or, one of the things surfers have in common with every mature, experienced person.

I find everything about surfing a blast.  I like riding the wave the best.  Next best I like getting outside.  Next best I like wipeouts.  They can be as cool as a marble in a shoe box, or better still, a sock in the washer.  And best of all wipeouts, a sock in the drier, going round and round and round.  Of course, if you hit something it could mess you up, and sometimes it seems as if the Ocean will never let you up; I only like these wipeouts when reminiscing.

The overriding lesson surfers learn, is that the Ocean always wins.  If you fight her, she will win.  Always.  You've just got to learn to live with her under her rules.  When she has you, many ordinary things become impossible, like breathing for instance.  If you don't recognize or accept her omnipotence, you'll get into trouble.  You'll get into trouble anyway, but if you learn the things she'll let you do, and learn to do them the way she likes, you'll hardly be powerless.

So in the surfer's world, there is this group of things that are just impossible to do; they know this group intimately.  There is also this other group of things that can be done, but only if you do them 'just so'; they know this group intimately also.

It is in the acceptance of the world the way it is; it is in the letting go of the impossible; it is in the learning what can be done and how to do it; it is in these that the surfer is the same as the conservative.

When a conservative looks at society, she sees lots that's impossible to do; and puts those things away until they become possible.  Then she gets busy learning what can be done and how to do it.  Then she does it and it works.