“A rising tide lifts all ships” sounds like an awesome proverb, promising better days ahead…
Until you remember that your ship is full of holes, and is sitting on the bottom of the bay, and the only reason you have not yet drowned is because you climbed all the way to the top of the mast, and then tied yourself there so you could sleep without falling off, and now the rising tide would mean that you have wet shoes, except that you don’t have shoes, so it actually just means that your toes are freezing, and you’re going to drown.
Edit: I don’t know that there is any actual point to this metaphor. Sometimes things get stuck in my brain, and won’t go away until I share them