There was a lad in ancient times did sail the wide, wide sea. He sailed alone and so far off that none could him there see. When he came back he said to them who wondered where’d he be, “I found an island, black as coal; the men work dawn to dusk. Each strives to be the best he can at whatever thing he does. The women, too, work all day through, are glad to have an aim, and only children play around at little children’s games.”

Then a man said, “They must be very sad to work and work and work.”

The smiling lad continued, “At night they go to plays and operas with happy endings; some go to dances and concerts of tinkling music, and others go to bookstores and brightly-lit coffee shops.”

Another man said, “Sounds like a lot of nasty self-centeredness to me. No thought spent on the poor and the suffering.”

And the glad lad said, “They’re the happiest people I’ve ever seen. They call their island Atlantis.”

Then all the men picked up rocks and began throwing them at the lad. But he was too quick for them, and he ran up his sail and steered for the open sea! “I’m off to Atlantis!” he shouted, “where bad men cannot see! It’s beyond the eyes of selfless and it’s there for selfish me!”

The exhausted men sat back down and sighed with relief, “Ah, so good to be peaceful again and just lay here in the sun with no effort.”

They have THEIR Atlantis; it’s all they ever wanted.