To the Students, Faculty and Crew of the SV CONCORDIA,
Through the eye of the needle: an exceedingly small and improbable opening through which not very much can be squeezed. And to fit through, much has to be shed: clearly, superfluous baggage will not be allowed, and one must be prepared to strip right down to the essentials. You can take with you through the eye of the needle only what you really need on the other side.
And what does the other side look like? Well, pretty much like the side from which you departed, only, somehow, different.
You have all passed through the eye of the needle. Everyone got through, although it should be clear to everyone that not everyone went through in the same fashion; some jumped head first, others fell head first, a few went feet first and others were caught up in the stream of those headed for the eye and were carried through, willy nilly and helter skelter. But it seems to me that how we each, individually, when our turn came, passed through the eye matters a whole lot less than what we found was intact when we emerged, with certain parts unscathed, other parts removed. No sane person wants to be squeezed through the impossibly small and frighteningly narrow slot that separates life from sudden death; it is an unwelcome imposition on our sensibilities, to say the very least. But through we went and now it is up to each of us to look back and say, what the ----- was that all about?
What are the important, truly life altering parts of you that survived your passage? Courage? Tenacity? Respect? Vision? ... Humility? Maybe we think we recognize other shades, somewhat darker: fear, doubt, anger, blindness ... arrogance?
Maybe what makes it through the eye of the needle is what we, once we are on this side, decide should come through. On that other, now remote side, we were different people. Past people. Now we are our future selves and only we can decide exactly what that is going to be.
I wish you all the very best in life that you can both give and receive.
Bill