I may have the curse of the gypsy blood and I have no idea how to recover from it. Let me explain. I was watching an interesting documentary on Netflix called “The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden”. It was about a series of bizarre circumstances that resulted in the unsolved disappearances of some European expatriate residents on the Galapagos island of Floreana in the 1930s. During the movie, a poem written by Robert William Service was mentioned. When I looked up the poem, it really hit me hard and I wondered maybe the poem was about people like me. You know people who seem to be afflicted by wanderlust and the desire to keep traveling. Please read the poem below called “The Men That Don’t Fit In” and tell me what you think.
The Men That Don’t Fit In
A race that can’t stay still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
And they roam the world at will.
They range the field and they rove the flood,
And they climb the mountain’s crest;
Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood,
And they don’t know how to rest.
They are strong and brave and true;
But they’re always tired of the things that are,
And they want the strange and new.
They say: “Could I find my proper groove,
What a deep mark I would make!”
So they chop and change, and each fresh move
Is only a fresh mistake.
With a brilliant, fitful pace,
It’s the steady, quiet, plodding ones
Who win in the lifelong race.
And each forgets that his youth has fled,
Forgets that his prime is past,
Till he stands one day, with a hope that’s dead,
In the glare of the truth at last.
He has just done things by half.
Life’s been a jolly good joke on him,
And now is the time to laugh.
Ha, ha! He is one of the Legion Lost;
He was never meant to win;
He’s a rolling stone, and it’s bred in the bone;
He’s a man who won’t fit in.
After reading this I almost want to cry. For it could be truly a sad ending for people like me. I suppose the answer is to have a balance in life and not live like the prodigal son. What I mean by balance is not to spend over your means all the time when traveling. Set aside a decent savings for yourself and plan ahead for when you get older. Visit those friends or family at home while you still have a chance. If you can take care of yourself that way, then by all means go ahead and continue enjoying being that rolling stone you are.
