I know , gloomy title for a post . Still, it’s true. We are all on the well-known sinking ship. We may not realize when it’s going to sink , but it will sink . Our days are numbered and then our number gets called and we find ourselves headed to that great all-you-can-eat-chicken-wing -buffet in the sky.
So maybe that’s not the way you picture it, but you have to concur that we are living on borrowed time. I understand that’s a somewhat depressing statement coming from a motivational speaker. Someone should have me write a book for children and the last page would read , “And they all lived happily ever after – except for Mrs. Watson who ate a bad burrito and died after 18 hours of horrible gastric distress .”
There are three parts that I remember with clarity from that film “Titanic” – the part where the fiddler plays his violin as they sink – the scene where the captain opts to go down with his ship – and the prior scene where they show the fancy highly strung people on the top deck swiling expensive wine and listening to baroque music while they strain under the weight of attempting to impress one another – juxtapositioned (hope I’m using that word right) with the dirt poor common people in the belly of the ship who are dancing arm in arm to the rich flourishing strumming of the fiddle’s music – their fingers sticky , their hair disheveled , their arms flung out in delicious abandonment as their wide toothless grins convey the hope that carries them through tough times .
I was stricken by the schism of those two images and how they symbolize two very opposite ways to live your life. You can live your life starchy and proper, obsessed with appearances, discerning the value in others by the oppulence of silverware or thread count in a sheet , measuring every step as if all the world were watching and you so desperately don’t wish to let them see you fall . Or you can live your life outrageously gleeful despite your circumstances – looking for every chance to fling out your arms and dance.I will admit that there are numerous instances in my existance where I find myself upstairs – lured into that world that tells you it’s all about making it to the top of the ship . But it’s not long before I find myself hurrying back down to the belly of the ship to find the common folk – to link arms with the toothless guy with the huge grin – and just dance.We don’t know when our ship will go down , only that some day it will go under . Will you breath your last trying to grab all your fine things? Will you be playing your violin until the very last moment ? Will you choose to go down with your ship? Or will you spend your time dancing, arm in arm with the simple people ? The choice is up to you . The days are counted . See you in the belly of the ship.
