Musings by Ramuz

If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?

Last night I woke up with a strange thought in my mind: don’t remember it all but it went along the lines of musings by Ramuz.

Ramuz was a Swiss-French writer of the last age who was quite prolific in his day.

Now what would possess me to wake up at 4 am with a compunction, alas unanswered, to jot it all down?

Perhaps it was by subconscious trying to tell me something. Can’t be certain of what and why but I do remember it vividly though.

I think the last few days were so hectic that Ramuz came to the rescue as if he was trying to pass me a message from the great beyond.

I guess he was trying to tell me that I need to take it easy. Not sure this is what I was going to commit to paper or digital memory last night but fact is that whatever it was, I have to accept it’s gone now.

In life we deal with a lot of might have beens. Some are big items. Others less so.

There is no point stressing about spilt milk. It’s gone and done.

Instead let us focus on what’s ahead of us today, now.

You wanted to know what character I’d like to be?Fine.

I’d like to be Jack Aubrey. And why?

Because I always set a straight course for the enemy, and I don’t give a damn about no torpedoes either.

I’m not crossing any T, I’m not looking for the weather gauge. I’m not looking for any excuses when it comes to a fight. I always but always seek it first if a fight must happen.

Don’t mind the maneuvers, Aubrey! Just go at them!

Nelson’s naval doctrine

That is not to say that I start the fight or that I look for one out of the blue.

But if someone attacks me, I meet them face to face, with honour.

Just like my favourite character, Captain Aubrey of the Royal Navy. And like him, I take particular pride and derive immense joy from my puns.

I believe puns are meant as everyday comic relief and that life is too short to be picky about your humour.

I hate injustice. Just like Russell Crowe’s character.

I do not suffer fools. And I believe in family, love and friendship, above all else.

Like Captain Aubrey, I’m very much in my element, that is, in dangerous fighting times. And like him, I’m also very much out of my native element, when set upon by land sharks. I’m good in a fight. Almost useless in peace.

If one remembers from the saga, Aubrey got very rich by risking life and limb for his country, England, during the Napoelonic Wars, when his nautical skills and courage allowed him to harvest a number of prizes from His Majesty the King’s enemies.

And if one remembers, his unwarranted trust in his fellow man, almost undid him on land, when he got mixed with a bunch of speculators who defrauded him out of his hard earned spoils on quite a few occasions.

Like his younger iteration, I too believed in the Anglo-Saxon justice. And just like him in his middle age, and after a series of hard knocks brought about by his trust in fellow Englishman, I too have become disillusioned with my country’s Justice.

Captain Aubrey is to me a kindred spirit, imbued and honed at the school of life.

Like him before me, I am perhaps slower than others to get the point, but when the proverbial coin finally drops, I am quite quick on the uptake.

And as Aubrey would say, tide waits for no man. And you can’t say fairer than that, mate.