I attempted, once, to do something similar to Christopher Colombus. I had a sailboat and I tried to travel the world.

There were a few slight differences, however. Little things like GPS, charts, radar, satellite internet, refrigeration, VHF radio, a generator, motors and a much greater certainty that at some point I wouldn't fall off the edge of the world.

I used to ponder upon explorers like Colombus in my sailing days. After having spent three days asail after having spent a week in a place like Cabo San Lucas enjoying fine foods and women I'd arrive, wearily to a place like Mazatlan where I'd pull in to a 5 star hotel marina and immediately order room service before plugging in to their wifi, showering up and then heading in to town to, once again, enjoy more fine food, beverages and local women.

If Colombus were reanimated he would be shocked at how much easier and safer sailing is today than it was back then. He would also likely laugh at people who thought that I was a great risk-taker for undertaking my sailing trip.

WE'VE ALL GOTTEN SOFT

Recently, the Murderer in Chief of the USSA, Barack Obama, stated that, "America has gotten a little soft". Coming from the lips of a man who has never accomplished anything productive in his entire life and who approves the murder of people as he warms up on a putting green, it sounds despicable and hypocritical.

However, he is partially right. In fact, most of the world has "gotten soft"... especially when you compare us to the way they lived in Colombus' time.

Think about it. Colombus undertook his adventure mostly to find a better route for the spice trade. He was literally just trying to find an easier way to get cinnamon and temeric! He worked at his dad's cheese stand but studied, on his own time (not in some public school) to learn Latin, Portuguese and Castilian, and read widely about astronomy, geography, and history.

Sure, he thought the world was way smaller than it was and he actually thought the Americas was India, even until the day he died. But, what adventures he undertook!

Compare that to today. Full grown, healthy men in their 20s and 30s approach me at conventions and tell me they are scared to leave their own country and go somewhere like Argentina or Singapore and try to find a way to make a living. They say things like, "I've got good medical care here, I don't want to give that up."

Argentina or Singapore are a 12 hour flight from most places in the world, now! In the time it would have taken Colombus to get out of the bay in which his wooden ship was moored you could already be on the other side of the world. Not to mention you can book your flight and research any of hundreds of hotels online, have access to bank machines, cellphone service and internet upon arrival.

Think about Colombus the next time you are considering expatriation and remind yourself what a wimp - compared to Colombus - you are for even having any reservations.

TRAINED FROM BIRTH TO BE SOFT AND FEARFUL

It's really no wonder that most people are like that today. The state coddles us along from cradle to grave with all sorts of safety nets. And, they continue to take it further and further. In the E.U. this week it was announced a new set of laws whereby it will now be illegal for children to blow up party balloons.

A Criminal Engaged in an Illegal ActivityAccording to the story:

Now, it is apparently far preferable to most people to have men with guns watch over their children and ensure they don't do so much as blow up a balloon anymore due to the possibility they could choke on it.

It's no wonder in a society like this the phrase, "better safe than sorry" now gets used with as much regularity as "good morning" in many parts of the western world.

It's as though those put in charge of "safety regulations" are unaware that not only some people die, but, everyone dies. There has not been a single instance of someone not dying yet. Yet, these laws are put in place at such abandon that it can only be assumed that the people making the laws assume that death happens purely as a result of insufficient oversight and legislation.

Now thanks to these world improvers it is perhaps an even sadder state of affairs. In today's regulated, unfree world everybody dies but hardly anybody lives.

Think about that and pass this along this Colombus Day.