There are days when I feel as though I’m the captain of a ship being tossed about on a stormy sea.
I stand on the deck, staring across the moving turmoil of waves. Above me, a black storm rains down her angry gale. Lightning cracks above our heads and the water threatens to take us.
All around me are the crew of the ship. Each one an absolute expert at what they do…rigging….rowing….sails…even one in the spy perch, watching through his spyglass.
I know this storm isn’t simply nature gone awry. It’s the product of the angry gods. With all they have, they hate me in the hearts…their will is to see me finish. To see me drown.
It’s bleak here you know. It’s soulless and hurtful and though I’m covered in rain and waves, my heart is dry as a desert. My mind is so tired that it is sending out messages to my very soul. “Quit, you fool! Give up and let the sea take her reward!”
And I would, were it not for one thing.
Could the gods have killed me, they would have done so long ago. Still, here I am.
Under me the deck moves violently. I hear the cracking underneath as the beams threaten to give way, yet it holds. Somehow it holds. God, how does it hold?
Somehow, miraculously, I make it across the ravaged deck and to the captains quarters.
Slamming the door, I shut out the storms violent screams and all that I can hear is my own heart as it beats out the steady rhythm. “Thump. Thump. Thump.”
Silent, I wait. I stare in the mirror and wait for an answer and then it comes.
“Do not rest. Do not stray. Never give up.”
One more beat of my heart and then the door is thrown open…
“Row!!!! Row, all of you!!!!Row as if your lives depend on it!!!!”
My own screaming sounds foreign to me, but still, on I roar.
“It’s now or never, and if you want to ever see your families again, you will defy they gods!!! You will not stop rowing till they concede! Your might is stronger! Your will more complete! ROW, I SAY!!!!!”
And they do. They row and row and row.
They do not quit, though their muscles burn and ache.
Everything inside them screams to stop, but they are relentless. Each one like a warrior princess or prince…never relenting.
I can feel my heart thumping again, but this time, with no fear.
The thumping I feel is pride.
We will never concede…
