Get out of the lifeboat
Recently there were two teenagers at our dinner table who just two weeks prior had been floating in a lifeboat500 km off the coast of Brazil. They were among 64 who had survived after been forced to abandon their school ship before it sunk in a vicious storm.
This past weekend all the crew of the ship, and many of their families, stood on a dock in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, where the ship should have been tied up. In an eloquent speech the head of the program, Nigel McCarthy, had these words:
“… Now, each of us must climb out of lifeboat groups and back into watches. In a lifeboat we are victims of a tragedy, we are waiting for someone to save us. We are wondering about being saved at all. Time to get out of the lifeboat.
In watches, we are teams who work together to change the tilt of the world. We will tilt it towards justice, towards a knowledge of the beauty and importance of human life. And not least the knowledge of the strength of the (crew) who were in the boats.
Watch or lifeboat, these are the choices of how we live the rest of lives. The choice begins here today on this dock”.
The choice of that crew is the same one that each of us faces. Do we identify ourselves as ‘victims’ – enduring circumstances we believe are outside of our control, dependent on others for our safety and provision – or do we learn from our tragedies, and seek to take responsibility for our own lives?
Imagine learning that at 16 years old?
March 15th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
It’s Peter all over again. “Lord, bid us come to you.” Thanks for sharing those powerful words and thoughts, Rory.
March 19th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
Wow, a powerful and unexpected turn of events that can be seen either as tragic or a growth opportunity for a young man. Kinda like the movie the “White Squall” but only real.