I just watched Tom Hanks in 'Castaway.' It was the second time I viewed the film and it left me feeling more alone than ever.
Hanks played a Federal Express pilot whose plane crash lands on a deserted tropical island somewhere in the South Pacific. He has NO way to leave the island and is trapped there for years, existing on fish, coconuts, tropical fruits and whatever he can find.
Being alone for that period of time would drive a LOT of people insane. Not Hanks!
To keep himself company, he paints a face on a coconut and talks to it.
Now:
I once talked to a face on a cactus plant on the island of St. Kitts in the Eastern Caribbean, but I had an excuse: I was under the influence of the blessed herb.
If I found myself in Hanks' condition and wound up on an island for years, I think I know what I would do to make myself emerge better than when I landed there.
As most of my reader members on this website know, I am a poker player as well as a writer. Hopefully, I would have a deck of cards in my possession.
I would construct a card table out of coconut fronds and each day I would deal eight hands of poker!
I would play all the hands and see which ones were most effective. Actually, I did this some years ago and made some amazing discoveries.
For instance:
Do you know you can call a raise with a king something off suit and often win the hand? Amazing but true! I actually use this technique in a cash game or poker tournament and often wind up with the pot with a king eight unsuited.
But just think of it:
You would have all that time to yourself, and could play countless hands of poker to determine a strategy you would use once you were rescued. It would be like living on Gilligan's Island without the girls!
Now let's change the scenario. Let's say I was an aspiring athlete rather than an aspirant winner of the World Series of Poker. You don't have to spend all of your time trying to spear or catch fish for your evening dinner. You can take care of that chore in an hour or two.
If you were a boxer or a runner, you could pummel trees or race through the wet sands to build up your strength. You could time yourself if the salt water didn't destroy your watch and set records.
Hell...
...at the end of several years you might even establish a world record or two!
Then there is the writing. Abe Lincoln wrote his Gettysburg Address on the back of an ENVELOPE. If you were a Federal Express pilot like Hanks and crashed your plane, you would have all those envelopes and letters to write on.
Over a period of years...
...you could write poetry, short stories, remembrances, articles, even novels. How's that idea for spending an afternoon during a tropical rainstorm? You might even write your own abbreviated version of 'War And Peace.'
You never know until you try it.
After years of existence on a fish, coconut and fruit diet, you will probably be in the best shape of your life, with not an ounce of fat on you. How's THAT for longevity planning?
And when the rescue ship finally arrives, the crew won't find a shrunken man on the verge of madness. They will discover a bronzed Tarzan, possessor of gifts and treasures created by his own hand and that would probably never be duplicated in a lifetime.
Excuse me. I think I am going to apply for a job with Federal Express.
