1. Like many, maybe you’ve struggled. The River of Greatness lay before you, shrouded in fog.
2. The Homeland of Humanity within felt foreign. Once it had been a Haven of Rest, teeming with Life and Possibilities.
3. But the sights and sounds without had quenched the fire that burned within.
4. You, your craft, the circumstances surrounding you…and the River. It made an Elephant look like an Ant. It howled at night and sparkled by day. They were all separate. There was no rhyme or reason.
5. You thought perhaps Ithaka existed upstream. You imagined her Ivory Towers and streets of gold. At times you heard laughter and were intoxicated by the smell of exotic fabric and fine clothing. The distant people and places consumed your imagination. You imagined the joy and exhilaration of dwelling there.
6. But you’d noticed something. Broken vessels and luggage floated by from time to time on the bosom of the River. It made you wonder if maybe up was actually down and down was up. After all, Letters of Success never arrived via messenger and Ravens flew upstream daily.
7. You had spent years crafting a vessel to knife your way upstream. Now it was too narrow and the River too swift to chance being capsized should you chance floating downstream.
8. So you fashioned a crude raft from logs you cut along the river and lashed them together. It was crude but utilitarian. You’d need no provisions. They were all along the river downstream.
9. You took your family with you. There was plenty of room and you passed the time talking and laying in the sun by day and sleeping beneath the stars at night. Sometimes you ventured along the shore and bushwacked to mountain tops and hidden lagoons.
10. Others on the banks heard your laughter and saw you enjoying each other’s company and put down their hoes and cauldrons and followed.
11. You found the longer you rested, the more you were joined by those who appeared on rafts of their own. One day you found a bow and arrows on shore, another time you found a large diamond in the shallow waters.
12. You laughed with them and shared meals together. The aroma of Fish, Poultry, venison, and vegetables filled the air each night. You passed a stick glazed in honey for dessert and shared ripe berries. You told stories by firelight and gathered each night to listen to the Cicadas and Crickets. At times you wept as a friend shared his heart and sometimes you laughed until your sides hurt.
13. Perhaps Ithaka was more than a destination after all.
14. Maybe the X that marked The Treasure on the map was more than just a destination, perhaps it was an origin.