Skipping a Port
I learned another word from a senior mentor I respect most, a former sailor.
I don't think he intends to provide material for my essays.
But as the one who heard it, I cannot help but turn it into a story.
That is how valuable the insights he gives me every time are.
The other day, I learned the word "DEVIATION" from him and wrote an essay about it.
It is a sailor's term that refers to a deviation from the planned course.
After reading that essay, my mentor shared his thoughts and taught me another sailor's term.
"Bakko" (Skipping a port).
He explained that it is a sailor's term for passing by a scheduled port of call without stopping, due to reasons such as weather.
Instead of just explaining the meaning, he told me about a song called "Onna no Minato" (Woman's Port) by Miyako Otsuki.
It is a song about the sadness of not being able to meet each time a port was skipped, and the feelings of a woman who continues to wait regardless.
He said that when he hears that song, he remembers a snack bar hostess he was in love with when he was young, and his heart aches.
For sailors and their partners, skipping a port was likely not just a change in the sailing schedule, but a pain of "having been able to meet, but not being able to."
If DEVIATION is a story about "taking a detour but eventually arriving," then skipping a port is a story about "not being able to go to the place you were supposed to go after all."
If we apply this to life, it might be "abandoned dreams" or "unreached goals."
Suddenly, I remembered a childhood friend I reunited with after 40 years.
He was someone who kept challenging the bar exam for over 10 years, but in the end, he chose to take over the family business without ever passing.
For him, the port of passing the bar exam ended without ever being visited.
But I don't think that was an ending that could be called a failure.
Just as a ship that skips a port continues on to the next one, his life continued on after that as well.
Even if there are ports you couldn't reach, the voyage itself does not end.
Every time I learn a sailor's term, I cannot help but feel that life is like a long voyage.