Ocean Vessel Stuck
On March 23, 2021, the Ever Given, which at 1312 feet (400 meters) is one of the world’s biggest ocean vessels, was passing through a narrow part of the Suez Canal in Egypt when it plowed into one side of the canal bank, probably blown there by a 40-mile per hour gust of wind. The front of the ship was wedged in one bank, while the rear was touching the other, which completely blocked the canal.
Excavators, dredging equipment, engineers, salvage experts, tugboats, and more worked day and night to move sand and ship. Six days passed before the ship was freed, during which 400 other ships were backed up, waiting for their turn through the canal, which was already near its capacity for traffic.
It is estimated that shippers lost $400 million per hour of blockage, and uncounted billions of dollars of goods were delayed in their scheduled arrival at ports all over the eastern hemisphere, delaying production in ways that would be difficult to calculate.
When one ship becomes stuck in a passage, world trade and production is affected. When one car breaks down, the travel of tens of thousands can be slowed. All effort must be focused on that one blockage, as occurred in the Suez Canal as every resource imaginable was immediately utilized to solve the problem.
How A Child Gets Stuck in Unhappiness
Similarly, one block in our emotional and spiritual lives can bring all forward progress to a complete standstill. When a child is whining, there can be no building of love, no teaching of responsibility.
When a child is angry, or using their phone excessively, or acting like a victim, all happiness stops. There is no flow through the canal. Effectively, LIFE stops, and, generally speaking, parents tend to completely miss the effect of these “little things.”
Only one ship stopped the flow of 10% of world-wide shipping, and “only” one behavior in a child can stop the flow of everything good in that child’s life. Each childhood behavior is that important, and we must be consciously aware of all of them.
When the “canal” is blocked, we must drop everything and address the single behavior we see. If a behavior repeats, we need to assess how our loving and teaching must be modified.
In raising a child, there are no “little things,” and we are the captain of the ship and managers of the canal, who ensure the loving and productive flow that affects the results of an entire life.
