Freedom of Choice |
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Once upon a time there was a man swimming in an open ocean filled with very hungry piranha. The man was safe as long as he didn't bleed because as everyone knows, piranha will only attack and consume anything that is bleeding. In this ocean there were two wooden ships. One ship was filled with vultures waiting for something on the ship to die. The other wooden ship was filled with spiders that made many webs to catch and sting something to slowly eat. The man became tired of swimming and frequently worried about his skin becoming sore or broken because of his long stay in the salt water. He began to swim toward the ship of spiders and climbed on board. It wasn't long before he got bit by a spider and his thinking began to feel sick as the poison from the spiders hurt his mind and drained his strength. In a dizzy effort to hold on to the main ship mast, he lost hold and fell back into the piranha infested ocean. Once he splashed into the cool salt water he woke from the spiders poison and began to swim. He swam as fast as he could towards the ship of vultures. After a while he was climbing aboard the vulture infested ship. It was still and quiet as the vultures all sat on silent haunches waiting for something to die. The man found a bit if rest on the ship of vultures as he didn't have to worry about spider poison or beginning to bleed from over exposure to salt water. However, his long periods of restful sleeps caught the attention of the vultures and they began to circle his resting place. During one of his deep restful sleeps he felt a peck and woke to find a group of vultures standing near by eyeing him as an option for supper. Fearful that a vulture peck might cause him to bleed, he jumped back into the piranha infested ocean. The man was so thankful that he could swim freely without bleeding. The rest was good for him and he felt stronger as he swam back toward the spider ship. Once again he climbed aboard the spider ship and once again the spiders felt him on their webs and began to come for him. Ah..life is grand and he is thankful for the choice to go away from the spiders and suddenly jumps back into the ocean. He swims once again toward the vulture vessel and once again climbs aboard the nice vessel where all is peaceful as long as he is lively; however with an energetic bounce In his step he sees the main mast of the ship and begin to climb up. After a short while the man was sitting in the vultures nest (once a crows nest) looking out at the vast expanse of sky and ocean. In the distance he saw a white area near the horizon. At first he thought it was a low cloud in the distance above the ocean but as time past he could see that it was an island, a very white island. Longing for a friendship rather than a spider-ship or a vulture-ship in his ocean filled with very hungry piranha, he dove from the top of the mast into the ocean below. He began to swim like he had never swam before. As fast and as vigorous as he could he swam towards the white island in the distance. He swam for hours and eventually the ocean waters became colder with fewer piranha and the ships with vultures and spiders grew more distant. In the frigid waters his strength began to go away. He thought about his health and safety and began to think that it may be safer to try and swim back to the spiders, vultures and piranha before he died in the arctic cold waters. In that moment his thoughts caught up with his position in the great ocean; turn back to certain dangers among the vultures, spiders and piranha or certain danger in the frigid waters that were close to the white island. He looked back and couldn't see the wooden vessels any longer. He had no choice but to swim as fast as he could towards the white island. Hummm….a real life story as it unfolds.
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