an image from a long time ago
I remember sitting in a meeting a long time ago, when my attention wandered from the discussion at hand and an image came to mind. The meeting was a discussion of a significant change and how to implement that change.
The image I had was of a rebuilding a sailing ship, mid voyage across an ocean, at night, during a storm. Perhaps I was overdramatizing the difficulty of the task, in retrospect, but the image is one that has stuck with me for all the years since.
It seems an impossibility, to rebuild a ship from hull to crows nest in such circumstances, and there is no way I can see to make assumptions for this to be anything but difficult. But one thing I’ve come to realize is that part of the difficulty comes down to how the ship was designed and built., since while I’m not sure whether it would be possible to design a ship to be so rebuilt, I do know that such a rebuilding wouldn’t be possible if the design of the ship hadn’t taken such a possibility into account early on in the process.
I’m not sure, I have to admit, where this image first came from. Perhaps it was something that I read or heard somewhere, or perhaps it was a gift from the universe, showing me something that it thought I should be aware of.
While I find the image itself an interesting one to contemplate, and I’m sure I’ll continue to contemplate it in times to comes, something I find more interesting is the extent to which it seems an appropriate image for our times, particularly when watching or reading the news of the day.
And now, and now, what other things arise in this image. What beasts for instance, dragons to be aware of or others, wait beneath the surface of the sea, waiting for the unwary ships traveling across its service. What uncharted islands await, to provide sanctuary and a safe port to conduct some repairs and result. What stories await, to be shared with the inhabitants of lands visited, around fires and under star filled skies.
I don’t view this as a pessimistic image. It might be a hopeful image, in the right circumstance, if the crew is prepared, if the ship is sound in design, if the universe decides that the ship will survive the night.
multijimbo 