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Trapped on an Island of Fear
By: Dave Cole

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." 


Prosperity: The Choice Is Yours
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