Reach Lesotho

Live Together, Die Alone

Posted on 08. Jun, 2010 by Elyse in Elyse

Those who know me well know that I love the television show Lost.  With its series finale a few weeks back, I was thinking about what Lost really was to me.  Lost is a comment about humanity and psychology.  It shows people putting their faith to a test in outlandish situations while coping, leading, loving, and developing.

At the beginning of the series, after the plane crash that initially lead the characters to the island, chaos ensued.  People were frazzled, self-centered, and gluttonous with their supplies, thinking that surely someone would come to save them without them actually doing anything themselves. 

The survivors were lucky enough to have a natural leader to pull them together.  One of my favourite scenes of the series is a speech he gives on their 6^th day without rescue.  He says, “We’re all still waiting, waiting for someone to come.  But what if they don’t?  We have to stop waiting.  We need to start figuring things out…We can’t do this.  Every man for himself is not gonna work.  It’s time to start organizing.  We need to figure out how we’re going to survive here….Find another way to contribute.  Last week most of us were strangers, but we’re all here now.  And God knows how long we’re gonna be here.  But if we can’t live together, we’re going to die alone.”

To me, the island is symbolic of a possible future.  As problems we have now spiral out of control, there is sure to be a ‘plane crash’ humanity is going to have to deal with.  We will not be able to waste what little resources we have left.  We will not be able to sit around waiting for rescue that is not going to come.  We will need to organize ourselves so that everyone will contribute.  We will have to work with people we never thought we would ever even meet because their problem is our problem when a disaster is global. 

And most importantly, we will have to live together so that no one ever, ever dies alone.

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