The Boat

An angel and devil appear on a man’s shoulders. We have all seen this before. Right verse wrong. Good verse evil.

But, It is not that simple, is it?

It’s not good vs evil. More accurately, It would be closer to the truth to say evil vs not-so-evil; Evil vs man.

A young man sits alone on a small island as he gazes over the infinite horizon.

The sun rises and the sun sets. The first day.

On the second day, the man notices that there are two boats circling him.

A devil yells out to him:

“Hey! Man! swim out to me and you can leave this island.”

The sea wasn’t rough. There were no waves. There were no signs of creatures of the deep. The choice was there.

From the other boat came the voice of a sailor.

“Hey, brother! Cut down a tree and build a boat. We can sail together if it pleases you. However, If we leave this island, I cannot say for certain that it will be here when we return.

The sun rises and the sun sets. The second day.

The man on the island grew thirsty.

The devil yelled out.

“Man! Do not drink the water for you will surly die! Instead, swim out to me and I will quench your thirst.”

The sailor yelled to the man.

“Work through your thirst! Do not jump into unknown waters on the promises of strangers. Cut down a tree and build your boat! You still have time!”

The man on the island was alone in his head. His body was weak, his mind was melting and the sunlight dehydrated him.

“It’s easy!” the Devil cried, “Think about how much better you will feel! If you don’t like my boat, you can have a drink and go back home. I won’t hold you back.”

The sailor remained silent. His boat slowly drifting around the island.

Before the morning had arrived, the man had already made his choice.

On the third day, the old man jumped into the water.

He felt that it was good.

“Come on! Let’s be merry!”

At this point, it would be easy to say the man drowned. It would be nice to say that the boat he was chasing was always just out of reach and sank to a watery grave. It would make a great story and leave a nice little impact.

But this isn’t a story about good verse evil, is it?

The old man was pulled with a great force into the boat. He drank the water and the wine. He laughed, he cried and then he died.

In his entire life, the only time he had control of his destiny, was when he jumped into the water to get into a boat that was on it’s own journey.

He never sailed the boat.

– By Randall Evans.