Imagine that you are 50 years old working in the corporate world when all of the sudden you have an extremely unusual idea. You want to escape reality and live what to you is the perfect life. For many adults 50 and older, they look forward to watching their grand kids grow and develop, their annaul vacations, and fires with their family.
For Mario Salcedo, a single gentleman in his late 60s, his perfect life doesn't contain any of these usual ideas. He lives his life on a cruise ship. For nearly 7,000 nights (19 years), Mario has been cruising nonstop. Many employees on these cruise ships know him personally now due to the fact of how much they see him on occasion. One employee even knows his exact breakfast order and has it ready for him every morning.
Mario seems to be extremely happy. He is living his dream. Who wouldn't want to live out their life long dream?
He seems to make many friends on these cruises, with some who have the same love for cruising as himself. Although Mario seems to be happy, to me living this lifestyle may get old. Sure you get to see the whole world, constantly live in warm weather, and not have to worry about making meals, doing laundry, or even making your bed. To me, I like having some responsibility as it makes me feel accomplished. Also, I want to spend time with my family, hopefully watch my grand kids grow up and get married as I am sure many others want to as well. This goes to show you how many people have drastically different priorities and interests.
When I heard the Mario has lived on cruise ships for the past 19 years, I was mind blown. This got me thinking, he can't be the only one doing something this unusual, right? I wonder how many others are living their lives an unusual way like this. Although it is something I wouldn't consider, I bet some of you reading this would!
First and foremost, great work Nolan. It is crazy how good friends and teammates can still inspire both in and out of the classroom. You continue to have that affect on me in all endeavors. You have always encouraged me to keep working hard and chasing the dream, so thank you. I really enjoyed this Op-Doc. This was one of the Op-Docs that I chose to dig deep into as well when we were first tasked with searching for Op-Docs. The quality about it that I really liked was what it is set on. This isn't some major world movement or problem. This is not some devastating event. This is about one single person living their life unlike anyone else. In that sense, it is just a little bit more relatable and isn't the biggest headline out there. I honestly commend Salcedo for not really minding what people think of him. He worked hard for the majority of his life, and now he gets to live it the way that he wants to. Though some may look at him as lonely, he still continues to develop relationships with both passengers and workers on the different cruise ships. He has the opportunity to travel the world and really maintain ultimate peace. One thing that really sparked my thought was how Mario may be handling this world pandemic. I am sure that ever since this pandemic hit, cruises have halted and he has had to resort back to living at home (if he has a home), not traveling, etc. In that situation, I actually worry about him a little bit and wonder how he handles it all. For his sake, and many other reason, I hope that this pandemic comes to close, so that Mario Salcedo can continue to enjoy his years of retirement the best way he knows how. Great work, Nolan!
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