The Sinking Ship
We rubbed our eyes in disbelief , as we sat on a rock by the shores of the New World. Unsure of our emotions, we were both triumphant and shaken. Triumphant because we had managed to ditch the old ship and out swim others on our way to the New World. Shaken by the disbelief that the ship had survived the storm.
I was born on the old ship and had the company of a billion others. The billion people on the deck cut a poor picture of despair and hopelessness. Tradition had taught them to wait for a divine intervention when in trouble. It was God who brought storms and it was onto Him to fix the damages. I had always thought that the ship would sink under it's own weight. Or the corruption of the men in the cabin, who would cut out wood from the ship to fuel their barbecue. Or we would be destroyed by the pirates in the neighborhood. Or we will kill each other in rows designed by the men in the cabin. So I thought I should swim to the New World to begin a new life.
Today I stand in silent admiration to the fact that the ship has survived; inspite of the billion on the deck, the few men in the cabin, the attacks by the pirates and the rows designed by the men in the cabin. I took out my binoculars to see what has changed. On the surface nothing has. There were still a billion desperate people on the deck cursing God. There were still men it the cabin quite oblivious to the storm outside. The best people were still trying to swim to the New World. For a moment I felt a sense of satisfaction. "I was not an escapist but a survivor", I thought. Then suddenly my eyes fell on a few people at the stern of the ship, fixing it's rudder. They were not mere survivors of a storm; they were the savior of a billion people. It became obvious that it was not a miracle that the ship had survived and that I was indeed an escapist. I was perhaps better in ability as compared to the desperate men on the deck but no better in attitude.
I bow to the men who fixed the rudder. Should I swim back now? Ironically, I am aware that they would hail me as a hero who decided to return and not a coward who had escaped. I think someday I will return. But not to be part of a sinking ship but to be part of the effort to save it, steer it.
2 comments:
Great one dude...I feel the same!
Good one, but who is fixing the rudder? Whom does it refer to in this allegory of yours? So, what is the storm you are talking about? Apparently, now the ship is sailing in calm waters, because you said she survived the storm. Is that correct?
What about the people from the old ship who went to the New World and started doing the same acts they have been doing in the old ship which caused the destruction of the old ship in the first place, and thereby infesting the New World with their ways of the old ship, they all 'escaped' to 'survive'?
Do you say that the old ship existed always or it has been put together by other 'pirates', whom the oppressive rulers in the old ship told the ruled in the old ship they are, but not all of the 'pirates' are really 'pirates'. What about the fact that the overtake of the 'pirates' is what enabled the old ship to sail in the least and it what enabled most of the 'survivors' to swim to the New World? What do you say about the New World then, if you are awed by the 'survival' of the old ship?
What about the 'pirates' who swam to the old ship and literally sacrificed their lives to fix the old ship, but many of the old shippers do not even acknowledge their sacrifice?
What about the fact that the inhabitants of the old ship and the New World are basically made up of the same material; they are humans, but it is strange that most of the old shippers in the old ship and also in the New World never even take time to ponder about how the humans in the New World made the New World?
What about those old shippers who vehemently deny even the fact that the old ship is in a state of ruins and the old shippers are the cause for this state?
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