Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch is an amazing story of a man, Nathanial Bowditch, who educated himself throughout his life. As a boy of 12 years old his father was forced to have him work as an indentured servant in the local chanlary until he was 21. During this time he was not allowed to go to school and was forced to work. He had always dreamed of attending school and someone sought to go to Harvard. Since he was unable to attend school he decided that he would learn the subjects on his own. He taught himself Latin, French and Spanish but was incredibly gifted in mathmatics. His skills in math enabled him to learn the charts that guided sailors through the sea and he discovered several errors in the mathmatical computations of the charts which in turn saved several ships from making navagational mistakes.

The moral that lies beneath this story is that anyone can learn when they apply themselves to the subject matter. Mr. Bowditch had the ability to teach himself and the character to perservere when learning became difficult. His desire was to gain knowledge and teach others what he had learned. For the reader it is clear that we tend to take education for granted. Often we disdain the educational process and we merely endure learning so that we can jump through the right hoops that the teacher provides so that we can graduate and move on to college or the work force. Mr. Bowditch took learning to an entirely different level. Education was a part of his life in the sense that his desire to attain knowledge was wedded to his identity as a person. He wanted to learn more to become a better person, and you saw this process take place in his sailors.

While at sea he often taught his men how to take a lunar reading, which was a skill that only a few men had mastered. Through this he was able to teach these men several other things that would enable them to do better in their future positions aboard other ships. The captian under which Bowditch sailed commetted that he had never had so few problems with his men as when they were being taught by him. When they returned to port, these men were able to get higher positions on other vessels as first or second mates. It goes to show that when a man is willing he can really learn anything he would like. It just takes a lot of hard work.

And so that is moral for us as well. How hard are we willing to work and for what purpose? Does our school work go beyond that grade or parental approval? Are we simply enduring school? My hope is that as we enter another school year we will come with a passion for knowledge that goes beyond the classroom expectations. My hope is that we place personal expectations upon ourselves that moves from our lest effort to our very best in glorification of the Lord.