Don't watch this if you're in a hurry!
Actually, maybe you should....
The main question that kept coming to me as I was watching this fascinating documentary was, 'How does anyone have the time to do that?'
It must have taken months and months to carve that huge tree trunk into a real, working canoe. But that's exactly how they would have done it in the olden days.
Did people have more time in the olden days?
Well, of course they didn't. A day is a day, a year is a year, a lifetime is a lifetime. There's only so much anyone can do in a day, a year or a lifetime.
Most people these days wouldn't spend months building a dugout canoe with a sharpened axe. It's really really hard physical work, for a start. My arms were aching just from watching this. Most likely, if you needed a canoe to cross the lake by your house, or to go out fishing for your supper (which you probably don't) then you'd buy one ready made from fiberglass or plastic. And why not? It does the same job after all.
Most people wouldn't even know how to hone an axe blade to that level of sharpness. That kind of thing takes experience and skill, which itself takes time to learn and practice.
But still it makes me wonder... how do these people have time to build a dugout canoe by hand, while I don’t?
Whatever the reasons - it looks to me like these guys have got the right idea.
Check out their other videos on YouTube. They're called 'Northmen' and do all sorts of traditional building projects.
Do you have time to build a dugout canoe?
Is it something you would do?
Would you worry that you're late,
and you've got so much else to do?
To pay the bills, to fix the car
Get the kids to school on time
To clean the house, to go to work
There just isn't enough time (even to think of a better rhyme!)
Or would you get up in the morning
Greet the brand new day
Swing your axe till the work is done
And when it's finished, sail away...
Consider that next time you're in a hurry!
Visit www.northmen.com for more info on who these people are and what they do.