Drowning Man

They say, "A drowning man will clutch at a straw".


It's a simple idiom meaning that when hope seems dim; in an act of self-preservation, we will do anything possible to save ourselves.


We live in interesting times.

The economy is shaky.  As a result, anxiety is at an all time high. Parents are worried about their children. Spouses are turning on each other.  Relationships are falling apart.  Church members are abandoning their faith.  Children have lost that innocent sense of security they deserve.


We are drowning.


Everyday, the government releases new statistics in hopes of raising our collective morale.  The economy is improving.  The worse is behind us.  Hope and change has arrived.

Those are words.  They are statistics.

Tell those words to the single mother of two who has fallen behind on her rent as her landlord hands her an eviction notice.  Give those statistics to her children as they sit in their classrooms worried if they will have a home at the end of the day.


In an act of complete desperation, she clutches for a straw.  She turns to her online friends and says, "help". And we, with the utmost empathy, collectively reply, "I am sorry."


She's drowning.


Everywhere I look, I see faces barely able to keep their heads above water as their hands are outstretched in hopes of being saved.


I see a young independent woman struggling to prove she can make it on her own.  She quietly is drowning because asking for help is not her style.


I see a lonely older woman, with years of worry tattooed on her face, working three jobs just to pay her rent.  She has no husband or family to turn to; so she asks for help in the most passively aggressive way she knows how.  Guilt is the straw she clutches for.


I see two people madly in love with each other but the stress of their daily lives has put their fairy tale love story on hold.


And together they drown.  They drown without each other.  They drown with each other.


It's scary out there.


There is not a more lonelier feeling than that of a drowning man.


I feel the waves crashing above my head.  I feel the hopelessness caused by events out of our own hands.  I sense the hurt late at night when those I love are alone with their thoughts.


Nobody deserves to drown alone.
Nobody deserves our blind eye.


If you claim to love someone, don't let them drown.  Just because they say nothing, do not assume all is well.


We live in interesting times.


We need each other more than ever.  We should be coming together and fighting these unfortunate times together.


We should be swimming together; not drowning apart.

"You don't drown by falling in the water, you drown by staying there".


It is our fault if anyone we love ever drowns.


I believe that.


As a man who has witnessed the ultimate drowning of a few people, I will go to my grave believing I could have done more to save them.


I am riddled with guilt, at times.


And I am okay with that.  Without that sense of responsibility, I would not be as willing to try and save those still in my life.


A drowning man will clutch at a straw...


and he will drown every time.