We Are All Drowning

We are all drowning, sinking into the depths of the reality that is life. Pulled out by the merciless tide into the open sea, battered by the waves, gasping for the rare breath of air as we break surface. Scream for help, no-one hears. All alone, and the fog slowly creeps in. All hopes seemingly lost, you surrender your body to the current, preserving you soul and mind for greater unknown deeds in the future. No more hapless flailing of your arms at the water…maybe praying that the childhood fantasy of an underwater Atlantis does exist, a place to carry on with the glorious blessing that is/was life; an underwater paradise.

And as you go under, as the life-giving air you so preciously hold in begins to poison you, your mind begins a journey. A journey into what was, what is, and what should have been. The people loved and hated in equal measure, the laughs and snarls shared. The memories that could never be brought to the conscious mind…now flooding through you, reminding you of what you held dear. Dizzy is your mind, numb go your limbs. Sinking. Sinking. The light above, maybe the last you may ever see. And you just can’t help but wonder why the heck they always say that one will see a bright, white light at the end. And that final crazy yet clueless thought strikes you that maybe colour-blindness really is that common and widespread…poor chaps.

But who is poor really? Those ‘gifted’ with a rather more ‘coloured’ view of the world, seeing the world through an entirely different pair of lens. Or you, presently being swung against and cut on the sharpened rocks upon the sea floor. You, who might be seeing his last, cursed with the inescapable future of a liquid last breath, never to bless your nose with earthly scents. And in those final seconds, as all hope seems lost, the world before your eyes turns black. You accept your lowly position in the universal system, and in this humble position the black shadow grows an arm, slowly creeping towards you, grabs you, pulls you up. Back up onto firm ground, unto the very land that abandoned your cause and cast you into the unforgiving seas.

We are all drowning, waiting to scrape the bottom. Then and only then will we accept how measly we are. Maybe then, after getting that second chance will we at least strive to be someone worth the title ‘human being’. Maybe only then.