![Good take by Brook Wilensky-Lanford on the brave and charismatic Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl. Brook writes:
In 1977, Heyerdahl built the Tigris out of marsh reeds grown in southern Iraq, following the drawings of the ancient Sumerians. Heyerdahl believed he was going “all the way back” to human origins, which is why he began his voyage in a place traditionally associated with the Garden of Eden. The unusual craft he called the “floating haystack” made it through the Persian Gulf and out to the Indian Ocean, and almost to Egypt. But not quite: Heyerdahl and his crew were stopped at Djibouti. The surprisingly seaworthy haystack could have continued, but its human occupants were in danger: neighboring North and South Yemen were blowing each other up—one with Soviet weapons, one with American weapons. Frustrated in his attempt to prove that the world’s earliest people had been seagoing, cooperative, and peaceful, Heyerdahl wrote a letter of protest to the Secretary General of the United Nations:
“Surrounded by military aeroplanes and warships from the world’s most civilized and developed nations we are denied permission [to land the ship] … We are all irresponsible unless we demand from the responsible decision makers that modern armaments must no longer be made available to the people whose former battle axes and swords our ancestors condemned.”
– The Tigris Expedition: In Search of Our Beginnings
Then he set fire to the Tigris, in hopes of drawing attention to the cause of disarmament. Sadly, it didn’t work.
A man who understood proof-of-concept. There’s only one road to peace: live it.
[Image: Thor Heyerdahl]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lfovvpZ36R1qzzio5o1_400.jpg)
Good take by Brook Wilensky-Lanford on the brave and charismatic Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl. Brook writes:
In 1977, Heyerdahl built the Tigris out of marsh reeds grown in southern Iraq, following the drawings of the ancient Sumerians. Heyerdahl believed he was going “all the way back” to human origins, which is why he began his voyage in a place traditionally associated with the Garden of Eden. The unusual craft he called the “floating haystack” made it through the Persian Gulf and out to the Indian Ocean, and almost to Egypt. But not quite: Heyerdahl and his crew were stopped at Djibouti. The surprisingly seaworthy haystack could have continued, but its human occupants were in danger: neighboring North and South Yemen were blowing each other up—one with Soviet weapons, one with American weapons. Frustrated in his attempt to prove that the world’s earliest people had been seagoing, cooperative, and peaceful, Heyerdahl wrote a letter of protest to the Secretary General of the United Nations:
“Surrounded by military aeroplanes and warships from the world’s most civilized and developed nations we are denied permission [to land the ship] … We are all irresponsible unless we demand from the responsible decision makers that modern armaments must no longer be made available to the people whose former battle axes and swords our ancestors condemned.”
– The Tigris Expedition: In Search of Our Beginnings
Then he set fire to the Tigris, in hopes of drawing attention to the cause of disarmament. Sadly, it didn’t work.
A man who understood proof-of-concept. There’s only one road to peace: live it.
[Image: Thor Heyerdahl]
