Allegory of the Dream
Imagine for a moment you are sleeping, dreaming of a clear, calm, blue ocean. In this dream, you stand on a sandy shore, basking in the warm ocean breeze, and breathing the fine, salty air. Calm and serene, you watch diamonds sparkle the surface.
For a time, you bask. But then, you squint a speck on the horizon. You watch as it draws slowly near. Soon enough, the thing becomes clear. This is an ocean liner, a passenger ship, and it is steaming right towards you. As it draws near you can see it is not just any passenger ship. It is bigger than anything you have ever seen. Bigger than anything you could ever imagine. Truly, it is a monarch of the seas.
Standing there, you grab your binoculars and take a closer look. As you do, you can see something is horribly wrong. The ship is decrepit, a death ship. There are so many holes rusted all over it that surely the ship must be sinking. You gaze down at the water line and sure enough, the ship is sinking, and fast. You wonder, are there people on board? Turning your glasses to the deck your eyes widen with horror. There are thousands on board. You immediately wonder, “what are they doing to avert this debacle.” Turning your gaze to their faces, your jaw drops to the floor. “Look at them,” you cry out, “they’re having a party.”
“Don’t they see that their ship is sinking?”
“Don’t they care they will drown in the sea?”
Squinting at the deck, you look for some explanation. That’s when your attention is drawn to the hundreds of children playing on deck. You choke back some tears, but just as you begin to despair you notice another ship not far behind.
Anxiously, you gaze at this ship. From a distance it looks like the old ship. You worry it will be rusted as well, but as it approaches you see it is not. This one looks perfectly fine. What’s even better, there are lots of lifeboats. Your gaze travels to the decks of the new ship where you half expect to see people having a party, but save for a few crew, the decks are completely empty. You peer into the portholes, scan down the hallways, but you find no one. You wonder who is steering the ship. Your eyes scan forward to the bridge where, sure enough, you spy the captain and a very large bridge crew.
“Thank GOD!”, you think to yourself.
This ship is big enough to accommodate all the passengers in splendour and luxury. What’s even better, the captain seems fully apprised. As you peer into the bridge, you see he is gesticulating wildly. Pointing at the sinking ship, he is giving orders to those that surround. He and the crew bolt down to the decks below. Megaphone in hand, he barks orders. Grabbing a flair gun, he fires several flairs.
As you watch, a feeling of relief floods your body.
The passengers will see the ship and everything will be OK.
Unfortunately, your relief does not last long because, shockingly, the passengers are ignoring the flares. They don’t have a care in the world. They just keep laughing and drinking.
“Don’t they see what is happening,” you think to yourself.
“Don’t they care about the children?”
Looking over at the captain and crew of the new ship you can see, they are surprised as well. But they don’t give up. The captain keeps shouting through the megaphone and the crew keep lowering the boats.
Finally, after what seems like forever, a few of the passengers look up. Surprised to see the new ship and the gesticulating captain, they look around. Not understanding their dire situation, they wave in greeting. Most of them turn back to the party, however a few break free from the group. They walk towards the railing and look down where the captain is pointing. Their eyes widen in horror.
Relieved, you think, finally somebody sees the danger. But their gonna have to act fast, because time is running out.
You watch as they fight back the panic. They exchange a few words and run off in multiple directions.
You draw a sigh of deep hope.
“Everything is going to be OK,” you whisper quietly with tears in your eyes. “Everything is going to be fine.”
Unfortunately, your relief does not last. Once again you see something is horribly wrong. The captain and crew of the sinking ship have been partying and they are too drunk to help. And the rest of the people? They don’t want to hear it. They just want to get down and party.
Of course, a certain percentage do heed the call. They get themselves and their children to safety; but many, too many, do not. Before too long, the inevitable occurs and water begins to lap ‘cross the deck. Wet toes finally grab everybody’s attention, but standing on shore you can see it is far too late for salvation. A few will be saved by available boats, but many, too many, will drown.
This makes you sad because of the completely unnecessary suffering and loss; but you also feel quite thankful. At least you are safely on shore. As the nightmare slowly fades a cold breeze blows through your room. Throwing blankets over your cold toes, you drift slowly back to sleep, praying for a more pleasant dream.
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