The Goodly Ship

Randomly scrolling through the “memos” on my cell phone (which are a collection mostly of random thoughts, ideas, and/or things I happen to come across that somehow inspire me/ hit me in a magical way), I found a quote I’d copied off a gravestone.  The writing on the gravestone was a bit difficult to read—written in a fancy, cursive script and eroding away with age—and that made it even more intriguing.  It read the following: “The world’s a sea, our life a goodly ship.  We are the [sailors?...this part was very hard to make out], and death is the port.”

There was just something about the image these words created in my mind, and combine that with the reflective nature I tune into when I wander through a cemetery, and I get a heightened philosophical/existential moment in my mind.  I began to apply the metaphor to my own life.  Every day I am navigating through the “sea” of the world with my life “ship.”  One day I will inevitably reach my port, my final destination of death, but that isn’t the end.  When a sailor reaches his port, it may be the end of one journey (life), but it’s also the beginning of another (life after death).  One main idea I got out of this inscription was that death is inevitable, but it’s not something to be feared because it is merely the end of one thing before the start of something new. 

Another idea I got out of the inscription was that we are the authors of our own lives, and we can be/do whatever we want to be/do, if only we put our best effort into our aspirations.  It almost felt intentional that the part about what “we are…”was left undecipherable.  For, we all are undefined.  Even if someone tries to define you--or you define yourself-- in a way that you don’t like, you are always able to change this definition of yourself.  To fit this all into the inscription’s metaphor, we are the “sailors” of our “ships;” we choose which route to go and what “port” (Heaven or Hell) to go to.

Maybe this is all a little “preachy” or odd, but it’s what’s in my mind.  It’s interesting to find that whenever I write, it usually contains a religious/spiritual element to it.  I don’t consider myself to be a hugely religious person, but the religious/spiritual beliefs and feelings that I have permeate through my life and writing regardless of my knowledge at times.  I’m constantly changing and evolving as a person, but I’ve found that my spirituality is one aspect of myself that remains constant.  Even though it may be shaken at times, it is always there.

To continue with this idea of my constant change and evolvement, I’d been trying to think of a “theme” for my life for my Intermediate Composition class that I’m taking this semester, and this idea of change and movement seems to definitely work.  I decided to call my life’s theme “On the Road: Travels and Changes” because, for one, I love traveling on vacations.  It’s been a great way to both experience/see new things and to spend quality time with my family.  Another form of traveling that I’ve been doing throughout my life involves my education.  I’ve constantly gone from one school to another both within Portage, my hometown, (elementary school to junior high to high school), and then afterward, for college, to Baraboo and then Stevens Point.  Along with these physical travels I’ve also had many “emotional travels”: my shyness and quietness with my peers and others I don’t know very well progressively changing into a bit more of an outgoing person through life experiences that gave me confidence in my abilities. 

My life is a road…or maybe a “goodly ship.”  J