The castaways
After the sinking of the luxury cruise ship
where the lights burned day and night,
the music played incessantly and the
feasting and dancing had no end, we
were shipwrecked on an island-planet
called Earth.
What can we do now?
The first thing to do is to evaluate the
situation.
To see if the island is habitable, and what was
saved from the shipwreck.
Well, from both sectors the news is encouraging.
The island is habitable.
On the understanding that, from now on,
we treat it with respect (we don't set fire
to it or stuff it with trash), we could live
for a long time on it.
And from the wreck, everything
was saved that was worth saving.
Our experience was saved, our knowledge, our art,
our philosophy, our science, our technology, our
machines. It is not necessary to drive the mill with
the power our muscles (harnessed like Samson), nor
pick the cotton by hand, (bent crooked like Uncle Tom).
The prospects are not at all bad.
The only thing we need is to control our behaviour,
because on this, and only on this, will depend our
survival now.
There is no other danger
from anything else,
except from our behaviour.
We must not repeat the mistakes of the past.
Provided we know what they were.
But we know them anyway. I don't think there is
anyone
who doesn't know. In reality it was only a single
error,
and from that the whole catastrophe began.
We hadn't worked as a team.
Each man worked for his own benefit and to the detriment of the next.
Instead of providing for
the welfare of others,
and then, of course, to
being provided for by the others,
everyone took care only for
himself.
That's all.
More was not necessary.
That alone was enough.
This caused the disaster.
Instead of writing on our ship the name
"Argo",
as a symbol of the joint effort of a team
which set out on a common adventure,
we wrote in large letters
"EGO"
and we ran the ship aground on the reef.
Assuming we could agree on this statement,
and decide not to use selfishness as the
motive for our actions, then from now on,
all our problems are solved.
You'll see that there is a solution to every problem.
So, go! Let's get started.
There is much to do.
The first thing to be
done
with absolute priority and
without delay
is to stop waste
immediately.
If we don't do this right
now, it is possible
that the destruction of the island reaches
such a point, where it is no longer reversible
and we haven't the time to undertake any
other action.
What do the actual castaways do when they get into this situation?
The first thing they do is to measure the amount
of available water and determine how much is
each person's share per day.
There is no other way.
Because if someone begins to say:
― "I
need more than the others, because
I want to shower twice
a day".
then others will be left without water
and die of thirst.
You could say, however:
That's okay. We agree.
Waste must be stopped.
But won't we cover basic needs?
I agree, only we must determine what
we mean when we say "basic needs".