The great wave is coming. Fishermen are rowing trying to escape the waves, steer their boats back to land, and see their families another day. Nobody knows what will happen. It’s all hanging by a thread.
They are not doomed, but they are not guaranteed to escape either. It will depend on their effort and luck, of course. Perhaps some of them are invoking some god. Perhaps the importance and criticality of the moment does not leave them time to think.
What would you do?
Probably we’re in a boat like them. The perspective of the image suggests this, after all. The observer, that is, we, are in an adjacent boat.
As the wave comes over us, time freezes, and we take in the sight in a moment of meditation. The great wave. Our fellow fishermen. Everything in an unpredictable, violent motion. But also in the background, we can see Mount Fuji, the symbol of eternity, tranquility, and stability. A fixed point in the utter chaos and fury of nature. A sign of hope.
After these milliseconds of deep contemplation, we are brought back to reality and the struggle for survival. Now is the time to try our best. In the next few minutes, it will all be decided. The box will be opened and Schrodinger’s cat might be alive. Maybe we’ll survive one more day, with one more story to tell, and one more medal on our lapel.
But whatever happens, eventually life will move on.
Inspiration
The woodblock print “Under the Wave off Kanagawa”, also known as The Great Wave, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji by the Japanese ukiyo-e artist Hokusai.
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