An
overweight, workaholic who made time and money his priority, suddenly finds his
life turned upside down. The lone survivor of a plane crash, he finds himself
on a deserted island. Not knowing when he will be rescued, he has to make it on
his own. His possessions are whatever he can salvage. The plush life he took
for granted is gone, but he still has a strong human instinct to survive.
With
courage and fortitude, he scrambles for food, shelter, clothing. As time passes
and day after day slips away, his character strengthens
and there comes the day when he realizes he cannot live like this forever. He
decides, against all odds, to leave the safety of the island, take his chances
against what awaits him, and return to the world he was forced to leave behind.
Yeah,
I’ve watched Cast Away with Tom Hanks one time too many, and yes, I cry every
time he loses Wilson, but one thing I always take away from this movie is the universal
message of the strength of the human spirit.
We
were happy, complacent citizens, filling our lives with minutiae, Facebook, and
routine. A bad day for us was a day without cable, the latest political drama, or
who did not make the cut on American Idol. We complained about our jobs, and
when we didn’t get our way we flew into a snit. We interacted more with our electronics
than with other human beings.
Then
came the storm and the plane crash and the isolated island.
Corralled
by the coronavirus, the myriad of executive orders, and the closing of our
favorite restaurants, our schools, and our jobs, we retreated to our islands.
Our survival depended on what we could salvage, so we rushed out to buy toilet paper,
hand sanitizers, staples, and eggs. For
health and financial reasons, we limited who could live with us. We put down
our electronics long enough to reconnect and interact with each other. We shared
what we knew, teaching each other the practical side of electronics and how to
work together to make life on the island easier for everyone. We talked. We hugged
and consoled each other. We helped each other keep fear at bay.
Money
was short but there was little to buy. Time was long, but everyone and
everything else were distanced, so for the first time in a very long time, our
attention turned from what to who was most important. We didn’t care if our hairdos
and our eyebrows and our split ends flourished, because our courage and our
fortitude grew also.
But
as days became weeks and weeks turned into months, we realized we could not go
on like this forever. We are human beings and we need other people. We need
purpose and structure. It’s in our DNA. We missed our jobs and our schools. We missed
fast food and walks on the beach. We missed shopping sprees and cookouts and
birthday parties. We needed to return to the outside world. It wouldn’t be the
same but then neither were we. We had found our courage, so we set off from the
security of our islands, willing to face the odds.
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