Yesterday I got up insanely early - for me at any rate - and trundled along to watch the largest privately owned cruise ship in the world drop anchor off shore from my little town. As should always be expected, or at least always happens to me, when we got to the cliff head path there was no ship to be seen. After wandering around for a few minutes, about forty to be a little more precise, we meandered home again. Within five minutes of getting through the front door, the website was checked and we were out again and rushing back to the cliff side path - thankfully just two minutes away - to see the spectacle.
There was a thin haar on the water, and as the ship glided through it, there was a ghostly feel to the whole event. It didn’t last. Other people, now, were emerging to watch it and it certainly was rather spectacular, not least for the sheer size of it. Totally unbelievable and simultaneously fantastic that of the 60 or so worldwide stops they chose to make Home Harbour one of them. In this little corner of the world it is easy to forget we are here, but thanks to this visitation we will be firmly back on the map again - at least for a time.
I spent the remaining hours of the very long, dragging day regretting my early morning. Thankfully, I had a quiet day of music and was only working for a grand total of two hours or I may have fallen asleep on the piano. But while the county has, for the most part, been eagerly gauging the ship which is currently anchored a (very strong person’s) stone throw from the harbour, my brain with its often simplistic but frequently unique view of things has been drawing upon the peculiar metaphors of yesterday’s arrival. Not least there springs to mind the expression regarding your boat coming in… Typical, that this might well be my boat and it can’t even dock at the harbour!
Here’s what really got me thinking…
The rather pretentious name of this ship is “The World”, neatly - albeit largely - written on the front so that it was clearly visible from where I stood on the shore. The thought occurred to me that it’s arrival in such a remote place as Home Harbour, its tantalising appeal and its brief stay were all characteristics of the real world. I don’t mean the earth, like rocks and minerals, I mean the world, like golden opportunities and personality. What if today was about the world of opportunities knocking on my door and all I could do was watch it from afar? Of course I appreciated its dramatic arrival, not in a blinding flash of light like a Damascus Road revelation, but something that emerged from the foggy mists of my own life, an opportunity. And here’s that spine tingling moment, where the unusual feel of anticipation makes you jittery and tense with expectation. As is so often the case with opportunities, you can be told that there is one coming along and ensure that you are out, ready and waiting for it, only to find that it is no where to be seen, but when you stop sitting on the edge of your seat and get on with life, you find that the opportunity will finally present itself.
We weren’t the only people to be standing on the cliff top but we were certainly the first and there was a feeling about the opportunity, like it should be yours because you were there first, you saw it first - but really, we are most lucky when we can hand that opportunity on the someone else. I like to think that some of the people who trekked out to see “The World” did so because they were following our example. That, in some way, I led then to that small opportunity.
It didn’t make it into the port - Home Harbour was designed at a time when boats did not have such a deep keel - but waited in the bay, sending out little vessels to take people to and from the shore, like the little opportunities leading up to the big one. I didn’t go. Like with so many opportunities in life, I preferred the drama of it arriving in the bay to the thought of going over and looking into it further. Some people went over on the little boats and visited it and I really hope they found “The World” of opportunities.
One day I might pluck up the courage to sail out on those little chances to the world’s largest opportunity. I just hope that when the time comes, I’m awake enough to seize the opportunity and make the most of what life offers me. I don’t know when my next opportunity will come along, but I really hope that when it does I’ll be ready, I won’t simply watch and feel that because it is not in easy reach it is unobtainable. So I’m endeavouring to match up to yesterday’s words of encouragement:
Working hard to create those opportunities, going for them when they come sailing in, trying to fulfil them and being patient in waiting for them to arrive.
I’m making a push to get things done, setting up opportunities and trying to muster the courage to take them. In the mean time, find yourself a metaphor - they are fun to play with but should carry the following warning:
DISCLAIMER: Understanding The World in metaphors is like seeing the world in mirrors, always accurate to yourself but varying depending on the angle you look at it from.
No comments:
Post a Comment