I know, gloomy title for an article. But it’s true. We are all on the proverbial sinking ship. We may not know when she’s going to sink, but she will. Our days are numbered and then our number is called and we find ourselves heading to that big wing buffet in heaven. So it may not be exactly how you imagine it, but you must agree that we are living on borrowed time. I realize that’s a pretty depressing statement coming from a motivational speaker. They should make me write a children’s book and the last page would say, “And they all lived happily ever after, except Farmer Brown, who was hit by a truck the next day as he was going to the mailbox.”

There are three scenes I remember vividly from that movie “Titanic”: the scene where the musician plays his violin as they go down, the scene where the captain chooses to die with his ship, and the scene before where they show the elegant people and tense. on the upper deck sipping fine wine and listening to classical music as they strive to impress each other, juxtaposed (I hope I’m using that word correctly) with the penniless common folk in the belly of the ship who are dancing arm in arm to the rich beat. and thriving on violin music: their dirty fingers, their hair in tatters, their arms outstretched in delicious abandon as their wide, toothless smiles express the hope that carries them through despair.

I was struck by the polarity of those two images and how they symbolize two very different ways of living your life. You can live your life rigid and correct, obsessed with appearances, measuring the value of others by the grade of porcelain or the thread count in a pillow, measuring each step as if the whole world is watching and you desperately don’t want to stop. they see you fall Or you can live your life hopelessly happy despite your circumstances, looking for every opportunity to stretch out your arms and dance.

I will admit that there are many times in my life when I find myself on top, drawn to that world that tells you it’s all about getting to the top of the ship. But it’s not long before I find myself running back into the belly of the ship to meet the common people, to link arms with the toothless guy with the big grin, and just dance.

We don’t know when our ship will sink, only that one day it will sink. Will you go down trying to grab all your good stuff? Will you be playing your violin until the last moment? Will you choose to go down with your ship? Or will you spend your time dancing, arm in arm with common people? The choice is yours. The days are numbered.

See you in the belly of the ship.

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