I tend to venture into deep waters of thought; something about the thrill of the unknown, I guess. This reflection took on practical meaning in the picture below taken from the end of the longest pier of the Chesapeake Bay. Early one sunny morning I ventured out to the end of the pier at Osprey Point and had an epiphany.

The four-foot wide pier was sturdy and stable; the wind, a gentle breeze; and the sky was crystal clear. But, with one side of the pier open without support rails, the pier felt like it was shrinking to the width of a single board with each step I took away from land. A sense of danger and of being trapped made me nervous the closer I got to the end.

Then I turned around and looked along the pier back toward land through my iPhone; My back was facing open water. At that moment my perception of being trapped and the feeling of danger flipped upside down. I felt relaxed and free. I was standing on a “wide Pier” that looked to be shrinking toward a point as it reached land.

Danger became safety. Ends became beginnings. Limits became possibilities. I felt like I was standing in the future looking back at the present.

Apparently, a previous owner had built this quarter-mile-long pier into water deep enough to accommodate his large boat. I think he also left powerful poetic advice for all things physical and metaphysical, intended or not. To paraphrase Richard Dryfuss from the movie Jaws:

“The deeper you’re in, the bigger the boat you gonna need.”