The SS Far Country

The SS Far Country is leaving port; few are aware that it is her final voyage. For generations, she has been a good ride, and the only ride for many of her passengers. The waving crowds failed to notice that the SS Far Country has not aged well, and she was beginning to list starboard.

Ephraim strolled the decks below and discovered numerous leaks, unnoticed by those amidst the distracting fanfare above. His gut ached; he had boarded a floating coffin that was soon to set sail to a dark, watery tomb. He clambered up the stairs and onto the deck, and screamed out a warning to the partying passengers, only to be drowned out by the fog horns that signaled their doom. Was it too late? Was his fate sealed, along with the thousands who knew nothing of their fleeting destiny?

Ephraim sprinted to the side of the SS Far Country in search of vests and lifeboats; there were none. It’s as though the builders and crew never expected this ship to go down; her strength would sustain her, she was unsinkable. The belching behemoth inched out of port, and the Harbor Master soon relinquished the control of the SS Far Country to the cold, bony fingers of its prideful captain. Her watery destiny was now an irreversible fact; there was no turning back.

Ephraim scrambled from passenger to passenger, and family to family, alerting them to the dire condition of the ship; none would hear of it. They were drunk with aspirations of exotic destinations and secure, glamorous futures. Today, there was no place in their lives for a Debbie Downer, or the empty words of a doomsayer.

The Message: There will come a day when it is time to leave the far country.