A crew member from one of the big maxi-yachts on the Sydney – Hobart run was once heard to say that sailing isn’t hazardous as long as you don’t learn to swim.
He claimed that in an emergency, if a yacht broke up in pounding seas, the swimmers would try and make it to the shore and could be drowned in the attempt. He, being a non swimmer, reasoned that the best he could do would be to cling to the wreckage and wait to be rescued.
Life can deal us all some serious blows from time to time and we might find ourselves facing up to a crisis that tears at our very heart strings and completely turns our life upside down. Our first impulse may well be to attempt to escape from the situation immediately.
Generally, these are occasions when our reason tends to be controlled by our emotions. They are not the best times to be making serious decisions that might well have some long term consequences.
Help will come eventually to those who realise the time is not right for instant decisions so they hang on and wait a while for the situation to settle down. Perhaps it’s often wiser to cling to the wreckage for a bit and know that in the light of a new day, decision making will almost certainly become a lot easier.
I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.