Lost..

After watching a couple of episodes of the TV series Lost, I recalled something I heard a long time ago, a metaphor really that compares our lives, to that of those on that forbidden island. The island, in the series, represents a new beginning, a chance to start anew (forget the weird, eerie stuff that's happening in the background of the show). But in regards to real life, the island represents ourselves. Although we may have friends, be social and live amidst family, we are individuals, and can only be so close to people. Each individual is an island. Friends and family and those we consider close are the waves that we allow to lap ashore from time to time and those that crash against the cliffs on our banks (against the high walls we have set up).


There is only so much that one can open ourselves to those around us. The food, natural beauty and growth represent our personality, physical burgeoning and emotional significance, with the different seasons reflecting our moods. In the same way that stress and emotional trauma can have affects on our physical well-being and appearance. The most significant factor of this metaphor however is not how the island relates to us, but how we relate to the island. There are different types of islands, volcanic, and those that were formed in the former break of the large primary continent. In the same way there are people who create themselves and those that just follow in another's footsteps. This is the difference between followers and leaders. Even though Disney has chosen to advertise "following the leader" such is not necessarily the best way to lead life. Even in most religions, preachers have more knowledge on the religion itself, and may pass on that knowledge, but they also stress that individual interpretation is much more purposeful. The leaders of the modern day, and past world, did not achieve their accomplishments by 'following.' In fact, most of the inventive procedures were so anti-orthodox that so many of the leaders of the innovative world were subjected to excommunication, death and being ostracized from the very society they were trying to help. Even though they lost basically everything by pursing their dreams, creating themselves, what would we be without Einstein, Miller, Galileo, Copernicus and other great minds of our kind. As the old maternal adage goes "If your friend jumps off a cliff, will you do it to?" The answer should be no, be the one that jumps off the cliff first.