Dancing with the Common Folk as the Titanic Sinks
I realize it, gloomy title for an article. However, it’s true. We are all on the proverbial sinking ship. We may not know when it’s going to sink into the depths, but sink it will. Our time is limited and when our number gets called, and we find ourselves headed to that smashing all-you-can-eat-chicken-wing-buffet in the sky.
So maybe that’s not the way you picture it, but you have to concede that we are living on borrowed time. I understand that’s a somewhat depressing statement coming from a motivational speaker. Someone ought to have me put together a children’s book 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 scenes that I remember with clarity from that movie”Titanic” – the part where the musician plays his violin as they go down- the scene where the captain opt s to die with his ship – and the earlier scene where they show the fancy uptight people on the upper deck swiling fine wine and listening to classical music while they strain under the effort of attempting to impress each other- in parallel with the dirt poor ordinary people in the bowels of the ship who are dancing arm in arm to the rich flourishing beat of the fiddle’s music – their fingers sticky, their hair in strings, their arms flung out in utter abandonment as their wide toothless grins express the hope that carries them through despair.
I was struck by the polarity of those two pictures of humanity and how they symbolize two very opposite ways to live your life. You can live your life starchy and proper, taken up with appearances, discerning the value in others by the degree 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 slip. Or you can live your life desperately 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 existence where I find myself upstairs- lured into that world that whispers to you it’s all about making it to the top of the heap. But it’s not too long before I find myself running back down to the belly of the ship to find the ordinary people- to link arms with the toothless guy with the huge grin – and just dance.
We don’t know when our ship will sink, only that one day it will go under. Will you breathe your last struggling to grab all your fine things? Will you be playing your violin until the very last instant? Will you opt to go down with your ship? Or will you spend your time dancing, arm in arm with the simple folk? The choice is up to you. The days are counted. See you in the belly of the ship.




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