the tale of sam sailor

there once was a man named sam sailor. sam lived on his ferry, which served to cross the river form one side to another. the ferry was attached to a wire rope stretched across the river and crossed the broad river purely by the force of the current. one day the rope broke and sam sailor drifted away. he drifted and drifted uncontrollably on his little ferry until he got the the sea. but it was not a nice sea, full of fish, dancing waves and underwater life, but a dark and dull sea with no fish in it and no boats on it that ever crossed by. so sam waited for the people of his town to come and rescue their ferryman. he waited days, weeks and months yet nobody came. and sam sailor floated on the sea for a year. and sam sailor floated on the sea for decades. he floated and floated on his ferry until he forgot who he was.

and because we are afraid of being hurt, we cut the wire ropes that attach us to our community and to other people. we retreat so deeply into ourselves that we forget the way back to the surface. instead, we drift and float along on our couches like a ferryman drifting aimlessly on the vast seas, without ever truly connecting to others.