You Still Have Time.

Mindful

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Sep 5, 2014
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There remain few expressions better able to capture the futility of a task than one which compares our efforts to ‘rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.’ The hull has been breached, the ship is sinking; to concern ourselves, at such a moment, with the position of the loungers would be the ultimate folly, the deepest possible failure to recognise the true hopelessness of the situation.

 
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The point seems grimly apt because we are, many of us, a little like the passengers on a stricken liner. Our larger hopes in life have been fatally holed: we see now that our career won’t ever particularly flourish; our relationships will always be compromised; we’ve passed our peak in terms of looks; our bodies are going to fall prey to ever more humiliating illnesses; society isn’t going to cure itself; significant political progress looks deeply improbable. Our ship is going down. It can feel as if trying to improve our condition, let alone find pleasure and distraction would be an insult to the facts. Our instinct is to be as funereal and gloomy as our ultimate end.

So, though we can’t be saved, though the end will be grim, we still have options as to how to use our remaining time. We are involved in a catastrophe, but there are better and worse ways of filling the days. In the circumstances, expending thought and effort on ‘rearranging the deckchairs’ is no longer ridiculous at all, it’s an eminently logical step; there could be no higher calling.
 
"What are our viable versions of seeking the best spot for a deckchair on a listing liner?"
Dunno, but I'd be busy building a raft from them regardless.
 
There remain few expressions better able to capture the futility of a task than one which compares our efforts to ‘rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic.’ The hull has been breached, the ship is sinking; to concern ourselves, at such a moment, with the position of the loungers would be the ultimate folly, the deepest possible failure to recognise the true hopelessness of the situation.

Do you ever stop whining?
 
The hull has been breached, the ship is sinking; to concern ourselves, at such a moment, with the position of the loungers would be the ultimate folly
If the ship is being evacuated, you need to move the deck chairs out of the way so people can access the lifeboats
 
Does that apply to the metaphor of life?.

Yes
Your metaphor is WRONG

With all those people on the deck, you want to get those deck chairs out of the way.
Rearranging the deck chairs makes sense
 
Thankfully, I would not have to deal with you in a crisis like a sinking ship

Hey!
Don‘t touch those Deck Chairs!
You're right. You wouldn't have to deal with me in such a situation. I have the intelligence to have an exit strategy in place LONG before the ship starts sinking.
 

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