A man finds himself to be a member of the working crew of a ship. He cannot remember how this happened, but somehow it seems to be a natural role to have. He is assigned a particular job as a crew member and he performs his work ably, even enthusiastically for several years. His ship seldom if ever goes to port, but exchanges goods and services with other ships and thus is able to provide the necessities of life for its crew. Each crew member is responsible to keep in reserve a portion of what he receives and to build himself a small life boat that will carry him and his saved-up provisions after he is no longer able to serve a useful function on the ship. Sometimes men decide to leave the ship when they think they have enough stuff saved up, even if they are still ably performing their tasks.
After our man has served on his ship for quite a while he thinks about his future and decides that in a few years he will have enough stuff saved up to leave the ship. He includes this plan in his official goals that he reviews with his mentor on the ship. The captain of the ship thinks it's a bit "negative" for our guy to be talking about his exit while there is still much to be done on board. But our man feels he's contributed well and is looking forward to more self-directed years he may have left. And he has been training another man to take his job when he leaves. Everyone thinks that this other guy will do a great job when our man departs.
As the date for our guy's departure approaches, he realizes that hes has miscalculated and he does not have enough provisions saved up. He needs to keep working well beyond the date he had announced. For months he tries to figure out how he can survive after leaving the ship, but nothing is working out. One day he blurts out to the first mate that he is not going to leave the ship. And he implies that there is nothing the first mate or captain can do to make him leave as he had planned. The captain is furious when he hears about this. He tells our man "We're not your lifeboat! You're going to stick to your announced plan!" Our man is duly repentant for his outburst, but the captain explains that he has to go, because if he stays, the trainee may decide to jump ship. So he realizes that the ship's leadership has made it's decision and he is going to have to leave.
While the date for his departure is still several months off, his ship encounters another ship with which they frequently do business. Our guy notices that this ship is advertising for a worker to fill the exact job he has been doing all these years. He contacts them and a short while later is offered the job. Starting date to be decided.
Our man thinks about the starting date. His ship is in the midst of a busy time. But his job isn't particularly busy right now and his trainee is completely ready to take over. So he sets the date and informs the captain and first mate of his decision. The first mate calls our guy in for a discussion. "How can you leave us right in this very busy time?" he asks. "Have you no loyalty to your ship?"
This seems like an odd question to our man. Sure, he has loyalty to his ship, but now he has a new ship.
