Alone on a Desert Island
Most people are afraid of being alone. Sometimes being outside alone can already pose as a challenge. Human beings are inherently social and aloneness is not usually a pleasant experience for everyone. Being alone on a desert island is a different story altogether. The image of aloneness it carries can be considered a metaphor directed to the dynamics of the human condition when subjected to utter loneliness. Will this lead to a more desperate emotion, more than just a state of being, which is loneliness.
A desert island, of all places, must be the worst place to get stuck in, alone. Considering that it’s a desert, resources will of course be scarce and since it’s an island, communication would also be hard to be access. To be alone in such a place is a situation that is always brought up in question. We would always be questioned in random, what would we do if we are to be left alone in a desert island, what would we bring but the question that usually isn’t asked is, would we survive? To be alone is different from loneliness. Most people would claim that being alone is a choice. On the other hand, to be alone on a desert island can be perceived as both a challenge and a choice. To subject oneself in this kind of challenge would suggest that there might be something in exchange. For some people, this could also be associated with the idea of cleansing both the mind and body. In light of this, it is easy to see the differences in how people perceive aloneness and how people would always tend to have the need to function within a group, community or even within the backdrop of a whole society.
Stuck on a Desert Island
We are often asked what we would bring when stranded on a desert island. There are different answers to this. Many people respond based on their basic necessities. Many would choose to bring something that would comfort them despite being alone, like a book or a television or the likes. But of course, the real question is how we would survive when faced with such predicament. People deal differently based on how they are adjusted with the social environment they are in; different personalities in a community that either clash against or jive along with each other.
There are people that believe that they are well accustomed to loneliness to the point that they think they can survive just being in touch with the vast expanse of both nothingness and greatness on a desert island. Some people would immediately resign to the idea that they will be subjected to aloneness. This shows a dichotomy of personalities in the society; those who can survive being alone and those who cannot. But of course, even this dichotomy is conditional. It is still up to the individual in how he or she will handle survival, because sometimes being alone on a desert island, as a metaphor, is not a choice, but rather a necessity in order to make more sense of what is happening around. For some, solitude is a gift rather than a curse because it makes us remember the things that surround us, especially in a time that tends to make us selfish amongst each other.
The situation of being alone in a desert island is never perceived in its actual sense because of obvious reasons; it is a state of mind rather than a state of the physical body. To be alone in a desert island is definitely a challenge but for some, it would be something that is worth taking, for the betterment of the individual.
