O Captain! My Captain
Walt Whitman O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won, The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills, For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding, For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; Here Captain! dear father! This arm beneath your head! It is some dream that on the deck, You’ve fallen cold and dead. My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still, My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will, The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done, From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; Exult O shores, and ring O bells! But I with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. The above piece is a poem by Walt Whitman. Also, from this piece came a most memorable and heartwarming scene from the 1989 film Dead Poets Society. I have always been a Whitman fan and since this blog is on the subject of anchoring, I felt the need to reflect on this famous poem again. The concept of anchoring came to me in a super cool, enlightening way that I surely did not expect. I started to dig deep into this concept in the summer of 2016 during my final graduate class, which centered around AODA (Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse) counseling and additions. During this time I was searching for my first ever school counseling job. I was scared and I knew change was coming, and it was coming fast. With everything up in the air, I felt the farthest thing from being grounded or anchored. However, I grasped the great importance of anchoring when the true definition of the concept was explained to me by my younger brother. My brother was talking about his group of friends during their middle school years. Middle school is where constant change and awkwardness reign. He explained so eloquently that in a time like middle school where things were constantly changing, he always those 4 guys who sat at the same table in 7th grade homeroom. He said, “We were each other’s anchors, when everything was changing around us, that table in homeroom never changed. It was constant and we all needed that". This statement hit me like a ton of bricks. To be someone’s anchor is to be the support for that person as they take on whatever it is they are taking on or going through at the moment. Similar to an anchor that holds steadfast to its ship as they ride out choppy waves. It is truly an honor to be someone’s anchor. People do not always let each other into those intimate, sometimes dark places, so if we do receive the opportunity to be an anchor, it is important to respect that. However, it also extremely important that we recognize that we need to allow other people to anchor for us. If we are constantly always being the anchor for others, we eventually become a weathered, worn out anchor that can no longer be as present and as powerful as it once. We stifle our own growth, which in turn, does not help others and us live fully. Here is another anchoring example that is less nautical, but still has to do with water. Picture an Olympic swimming medley relay team. Usually, a medley relay team is composed of 4 swimmers. The final swimmer to enter the water is referred to as the anchor. The reason why is because this person keeps the team grounded and motivated while another swimmer is the water. Also, most importantly, this person is the one haulin’ ass at the end to finish the race. Right off the bat or in this case, the block, one may think the obvious choice would be to have the best, fastest swimmer be anchor. Michael Phelps should always swim anchor, but he does not. If Michael Phelps swam anchor in every relay race, he would burn out and not have enough stamina to compete in his own individual races and also do well in other relays. Michael Phelps would not be the champion swimmer he is today without teammates to both cheer him on and also to challenge him. It all boils down to this. If you want to be an anchor for someone, you have to let someone anchor for you. It is OK to take a step back, breathe, dig deeper into the things you love, and take care of that beautiful soul. Otherwise, the human alone cannot do it by themselves. What I have learned from anchoring is you have to take care of that human spirit and that soul. By doing this, we not only become the best anchors, but we can also be the strong, gusty winds that fill both our own ships sails and also the sails others. Here is to always becoming the mighty vessel that takes on all of life’s adventures. “O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,” I stand with you, my fellow Captains. Stay steadfast.
1 Comment
Patti Wetzel
6/23/2017 05:58:48 am
Wow! I'm really proud of you Olivia. This is so insightful. Our family will need anchors now & may we be anchors to others.
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AuthorMy name is Olivia. I am woman, daughter, sister, friend, and counselor. I just want to put love in the world. Archives
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