A Spiritually Enlightening Online Magazine.  July Theme: "Flow"   Volume 1 Issue 5  ISSN# 1708-3265

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I've just re-read the story "Passage For Piano" by Frank Herbert for the hundredth time. It is a very intriguing story about a group of people getting ready to settle another planet. The colony consists of over three hundred people, all families selected for the skills they can bring to the colony. There are tailors, doctors, botanists, machinists, carpenters, every expertise you can think of for self-sufficiency and survival represented.

Also, the colony ship is equipped with everything one would physically need to survive. There are tools, clothing, archives of literature and music, schematics for solar and hydroelectric power, material to set up a small foundry. There is even extensive technical knowledge on how to make use of the local resources as well as replenish them.

Finally the planet is extensively scouted. There is no doubt this is a virgin planet. All kinds of gorgeous flora and fauna are there, just no sentient life. More importantly though, there are no bug-eyed monsters to attack you in your sleep. Everything is there for very comfortable living, perhaps even cleaner and better than you are living now.

In this story whole families were selected, so not only do you get a chance to live somewhere beautiful and new, you do not even have to suffer the pain of leaving loved ones behind. So please do not get hung up on that aspect since this is a whimsical question, a poser so to speak. Of course if the thought of leaving loved ones behind is appealing, then go alone! Just remember the original question was what would you take, not whom.

Now, the part of the story I found most interesting was each of the colonists were only allowed seventy-five pounds of truly personal gear to take along.

So, you are going to a virgin place where you will want for nothing and your own hard work is the only measure of how successful you are. My question to you… What do you take? Of all the material possessions you own, which are the most important to you? Which do you take? Which do you leave? Remember you only get seventy-five pounds of strictly personal gear.

Think about this, it is an interesting question. Also, to see another sweet facet of this interesting scenario, bring it up to friends. You will likely find your ideas on what you would take changed by the input of your friends. I know my own ideas on this have changed several times so far.

My first thoughts on this were to take my fishing and archery gear. That would be the full seventy-five pounds if not more. Each time I share what my choices are, my rather smug reasoning is I get to take two of my favorite and most calming past times as well as possibly provide additional food for the greater good of the colony. The sad truth off all this is the love I've put into my tackle collection. Each lure was sought out over a period of years in trade shows and long drives to out-of-the-way places. It is a collection of immeasurable effort and love, as well as personal energy. Not to mention, they are so colorful and shiny! Heck, I am even trying to save up money to complete the last unfinished room in my home with a nautical themed bar! Then I get to start collecting and displaying antique lures.

But, when I posed this question to an artist friend of mine, another writer in this publication, Elizabeth Abernathy, I figured most of her pounds would be taken up with her art gear. I was happily surprised when most of what she chose were things to fashion her own art gear from natural foliage and whatever else she could find existing there.

Of course then I remembered her article a few issues back on the making of wands. I was very impressed at her views supporting the more effort and personal energy you put into it, fashioning, lacquering, personally engraving, etc., the more powerful the item is.

So after talking with her, instead of nearly a hundred pounds of shiny lures, I could take a good knife. I can definitely see myself on a quiet, virgin beach whittling, fashioning, and then painting with natural pigments.

That appealing idea cut the weight of my stuff way down and again introduced the problem of what I would take. Maybe a couple extra poles and some Otis Redding would be a good idea…



Hello, my name is David Reber and I currently reside in Northern Indiana. Aside from my day job of working with children, I enjoy the seclusion of my little white home in the woods. There I am afforded the quiet comfort to pursue a bit of archery and fishing along with the occasional hack attempt at writing.

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