Boats and Anchors

I have heard just about every Urban Legend that there is. Everything from "I saw Elvis Pressley at a KFC in Michigan", to "Space Alien advises President on Foreign-Policy". I thought I heard it all until I woke up one morning, to discover that I had become an Urban Legend. (Ellwood Johnson: A Life Well Lived 1983)

Last week a friend of mine told me that " As long as we have an anchor and something to anchor it to, we will never drift far." For the last 30 years or so, I have heard this comment and others similar to it. References to anchors and boats and drifting inhabit our conversations on a day-to-day basis. And for the most part we don't give it a second thought.

But as I look around me today, I notice something. People don't always lower the anchor all the way to the bottom anymore. Some even get the idea that all you have to do is get close to the bottom. Still others think like this, "Me and my boat are just as solid as the ground. So why don't I just leave the anchor on board and that'll keep me from drifting away."

Now to you and me this might sound like insanity, but to others it makes sense. Actually it's just another step down the slippery slope to nowhere. When we shift our focus from the hard rock bottom of the ocean floor to ourselves, we are entering dangerous water's. When those around us in positions of authority tell us that our opinions and points of view are just as valid as every other point of view. Or worse yet, just as true as every other point of view, then beware my friend, for the end is nigh.