Once upon a time there was a large luxury liner that sailed the seas. It was alone on the seas as far as anyone knew. It had been sailing long before any of the current passengers or crew were born. There had been so many generations of people from whenever the ship had started to steam across the seas, that no one was quite sure how it all started or what it’s purpose was. The name of the ship was the Titanic.
The ship was a grand luxury liner. There were decks devoted to every pleasure and excess imaginable. There were also areas of the ship that were good, noble, beneficial. Some passengers were good people but others saw the voyage as an opportunity to gain advantages over fellow passengers.
There were a small group of passengers who were nicknamed the Safeties. The Safeties believed that one day the ship would be judged and sink, the only ones who could be saved from this disaster those who were alert, on deck and ready. Over the years the Safeties gave their warnings of impending danger. For a period of time after these revival meetings of sincere and sober warnings, people would leave the bars and ballrooms and theaters of the ship and put on life vests and be ready on deck. But there were others who ignored the warnings and stayed below deck, making fun of any who chose to suffer from exposure to the elements and to watch for a danger that never happened. Over the course of time and with the many passing generations the warnings seemed more like a foolish myth, a story for old ladies or little children.
One of the preachers among the Safeties cried out that all aboard the luxury liner needed to pay attention and change their ways. He cried out telling them that they had offended the seas and the God who made them. Judgement was coming, the ship would sink, they would die in the sea and their bodies would feed the fishes. Only those who were on deck could make it to the lifeboats and be saved. With a sincere and earnest plea the preachers would plead for those below the deck to leave their old ways and come up on deck to a new life. Some of those below deck were convinced as they could see how the things done below deck could offend the seas and the God who made them. But most of those below deck who heard the message were convinced that this message was the same threadbare morality and empty threats that had been sounded for generations.
One thing those below deck failed to take account of, as time went by, was that the passenger list was always being updated. Some passengers and crew were removed. Others added. At the back of the ship, where none of the happy and healthy revelers went, their friends and forefathers passed away and their bodies, wrapped in a cloth, tossed overboard, fed the fishes.
One day an old preacher among the Safeties said that the time had come, the icebergs that all could see in the seas around them would soon strike the ship and sink it. He even announced with great certainty the date, the end would happen a week from Thursday. Some were stirred up, others mocked. Amazingly, almost all on board heard the warning. But most on board listened without bothering to go up on deck. The fateful day that had been named came… and went. Those below deck mocked and had fun. The old preacher was wrong. Even other Safeties said that. But at the back of the boat, it was seen that even the old preacher may not have been as wrong as some thought for a steady number of bodies continued to be tossed overboard.
As the ship steamed full speed ahead, it seemed only a few still gathered on the deck and remembered the words of the earlier preachers that one day the ship would strike an iceberg and sink. The crew and the passengers below deck saw no reason to fear those little icebergs they sailed past. They continued in their ways, convinced that this ship was unsinkable, always had been, always would be.
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