Are You Living On An Island Of Fear?

In the movie released last year, "The Castaway,"
Tom Hanks played the role of a FedEx delivery
man. His job was to fly all over the world
making sure that the packages were delivered
on time.

One fateful trip found his cargo plane flying
through a nasty storm somewhere in the middle
of the South Pacific Ocean. The plane crashed
near a tiny, deserted island. The only survivor
was Hanks.

Upon awakening the next day, Hanks found himself
all alone. Alone with nothing except the clothes
on his back.

So picture this: no matches, no tools, no food,
no shelter, no communications, only 1 small
flashlight along with a few packages
containing some useless items that had
washed up on shore.

He learned to survive a meager existence sleeping
in a small dark cave. His food came from coconuts
and the few fish he managed to catch.

Tom Hanks was captured and held prisoner on an
island with seemingly no hope of ever escaping.
Every day the island dictated to him how he was
to live.

He was trapped on that island because he saw no
way of escape.

His fears of losing what small sense of security
the island provided, as despicable as it was,
prevented him from trying to escape to a better
life. A life he knew existed, but now only
dreamed about.

Looking out over the vast expanse of the ocean,
he constantly thought about that better life. But
those thoughts soon returned to seeing the
opposition and competition that prevented him from
returning to what was rightfully his.

4 long years later, Tom Hanks made a decision.

He had grown sick and tired of having a nothing life.

It was either die a nobody, going no place, on
a nowhere island, continuing to live a struggling
and pitiful hand to mouth
existence, or......die trying to escape to a real life.

The Pacific Ocean was the obstacle. His opponent
was his own fears of overcoming that obstacle.

He made a plan to escape. The day arrived and
Hanks set sail aboard a make shift, rinky dink
raft of logs tied together with tree bark and
video tape.

He met every adversity the South Pacific could
throw at him. It wasn't easy, but finally,
the rescue came.

The movie portrayed a very intense drama. An
analogy of what life is like for many people.
Thousands of folks every day feel trapped in
a nowhere life. They feel like their life is
being wasted, like they are going nowhere, on
a nowhere island with little hope of escape.

Every day these people trudge off to a boring
and hopeless job that offers only an existence
but no real sense of satisfaction in life as
accomplishing anything.

These people know there is a better life out
there, a life they so desire, yet it seems so
far away. They are trapped on their own island
of despair.

Held there, not by the island itself, but by
their own fears of not being able to overcome the
adversity and opposition that lies between
them and their dreams.

A few do escape from that island. They are the
ones who finally become sick and tired of living
a wasted life, they are the ones who overcome
the fear inside.

They start out from their island, not really
knowing if they will make it or not. But they
look that sea of difficulties square in the
eye and say, in the unforgettable words of
Admiral David Farragut, "Damn the torpedoes,
full speed ahead."