Crashing in on all of us is the realization that we share one Earth, and therefore, at least have that in common.
So what is necessary for survival? Cring takes us on a journey with people marooned on an island, and parallels it Planet-wide.
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TRANSCRIPT
Culture Crash (So What Do You Do Next?)
You decide to go on a second honeymoon with the love of your life. (But since he or she was not available you take your spouse.)
All kidding aside, it is an expensive trip to a faraway land, which you never would have gone on except for the fact that a long-lost uncle left a little bit of money in his will, which happened to be just the right amount to fund such an extravagance.
It’s a bash. It’s a crazy idea. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
So, you board the plane with books and entertainment in hand, ready for a long flight. Several hours later, the plane hits stormy weather, which becomes very severe.
So treacherous that the plane flies off-course, only to find itself in the middle of another storm, which further alters the destination.
While the pilot’s trying to figure out where he is, the fuel lights come on, informing the cabin that there had been some damage to the tanks, and the plane is dangerously low on the stuff that keeps it in the air.
Before adjustments can be made, the engines begin to go out, one by one, and the pilot decides to make a landing on an island but falls. just short of the land, burying the nose of the jet into the sea near the beach.
The plane fills with water, the passengers desperately trying to find an exit. What follows is twenty to twenty-five minutes of horror, filled with screams, then drowning, as the original manifest of one hundred souls on the plane dwindles to ten people who crawl out of the water and fall exhausted onto the beach.
Five men.
Five women.
You are one of them.
Your loved one is not among the survivors. Matter of fact, you don’t know any of the people who lay exhausted by your side.
After about twenty minutes of panting, tears and trying to recover from shock, the ten remaining souls look at one another.
The airplane is gone, submerged under the water. Attempting to rescue any additional people is fruitless—the tide will not allow anyone to escape the island.
There is a language barrier. Four of the survivors speak English and English only. Three others speak broken English and the remaining three have no ability to speak English whatsoever.
There seems to be no connecting language, or person among the ten who can communicate with everybody.
Looking at the sun, it appears to be the middle of the afternoon. It is five hours until dark.
The island appears uninhabited by anything except creatures, since no one has scurried to the beach to see what has happened.
In front of you is endless ocean.
Behind you is a tropical jungle, filled with the unknown.
So, what should you do? And in what order should you do it?
I don’t want to sound dramatic (though by this time that seems hypocritical). But to a strange, almost bizarre extent, this is the condition of Earth at this point.
The original plan has crashed. Our attempts to segregate the human race through religion, gender, culture, nationality and ideology has left us all precariously endangered.
Where do we start?
Shall we have a meeting—a long one? What would be the result of ten people who have just come through the worst horror of their lives and are somewhat blocked by language barriers, to have a long discussion about the future?
No. What we need at this point is common sense.
We need to break life down into its elements, and from those elements find the rudiments—those completely necessary parts required for every human being in order to live—but also to continue to have the will to live.
So perched on that beach with nine other human souls, it would be necessary to think about survival.
Maybe you want to think about rescue, but if it doesn’t happen immediately, then it is mostly important to survive. After all, that Malaysian jet—was it ever found?
There’s one thing that has to be taken care of immediately: Human life cannot function or continue to exist without fresh water, especially when people are exhausted, thirsty and maybe wounded or bleeding. So rather than trying to divide into committees, the ten souls wisely bind together to achieve the first aspiration: ten people in search of water.
Because bluntly, if they don’t have fresh water, they are not going to live.
And why would it be any different for Earth as a whole?
Forget the airplane crash for a minute. What if every man, woman and child in the world woke up tomorrow knowing that they had enough fresh water to last them through the day?
Because the truth is, many don’t. We even have schools in AMERICA where you can’t drink out of the water fountains in the hallways. Flint, Michigan, was poisoned by its water supply.
What if we just got the whole world together to agree on that simple thing: let us search, find and deliver fresh water to every citizen of the world.
What massive difference would that make for humanity?
If people did not have to drink out of mud puddles or poisoned ponds, psychologically would there be a change in the planet?
For back to our ten survivors: after the ten of them found clean water, about 125 yards inland, they left two souls behind to be in charge of gathering the water—finding any means possible for collection.
Then the other eight souls set out, confident that water would be supplied, to search out the next thing they needed:
Food.
Yes, food would be necessary. If survival was going to be achieved, or even waiting for rescue, strength would need to be maintained.
So likewise, what if every man, woman and child on Earth got up tomorrow knowing they had enough food—even if it was just one meal for the day?
Would there be a difference in the demeanor, the attitude, the productivity and the emotions of the citizens of the Earth?
Because the eight that set out on that island to find food soon located coconuts, some sort of tropical version of citrus, and even set some traps for animals to provide protein.
Once again, two souls were left behind to literally gather coconuts, as six set out to find shelter.
The jungle was certainly full of creatures great and small who might find the intrusion of ten unplanned-for guests annoying. Some shelter was needed.
The six found palm branches and other types of vegetation that could be cleared and used to make beds or maybe even a canopy.
Here’s a question. Back to our world:
What if every man, woman and child in the world was suddenly granted simple shelter from the elements? No one homeless any longer, or at the mercy of Mother Nature.
So let’s see where we are—what if we lived on an Earth which, instead of working on weapons, worked on providing water for every inhabitant, a little bit of food every day for every person, and simple shelter for each person?
What change would that create psychologically for eight billion people?
Two survivors stayed behind to work on the shelter issue, and the remaining four set out to find a spot—not too far from the shelter—to provide cleanliness, privacy and sanitation. After all, people are gonna need to piss and poop. There needs to be a place for it. A place close enough for the survivors to walk safely, do their business, cover it up with some sand and know that it is at a sufficient distance that nasty odors won’t be floating into the enjoyment of coconut stew.
Well, here I go again.
If the whole world were given the privilege of sanitation, a place to pee and take a shit that was clean enough that they wouldn’t feel like they would get a disease using it, and private enough that the experience would not be horrifying, how would that change things?
Sanitation.
Our survivors leave two people behind to dig a trench and provide for adequate privacy for those who would need to relieve themselves, and the two last souls find a place to start a fire.
It will be needed for cooking, warmth, and also a deterrent against marauding predators.
Energy.
Is there any way that we could get fire—energy—into the shelter of every person in the world?
It doesn’t sound impossible, does it?
Certainly, a culture which can come up with the I-Phone could devise a plan for clean water, food, shelter, sanitation and fire (energy) to be distributed to the people of the Earth.
Night is falling.
The ten survivors meet up again, know that there’s much to plan, much more to do, and ultimately a rescue to be pursued.
As they sip their water and nibble on a bit of food, sitting comfortably on palm fronds, knowing that after dinner they can make use of the “dung trough,” feeling the fire warm their skin, they feel hope.
Even though sadness covers their minds, there is a hope that if the ten of them could pull together to survive the first night in a dangerous environment, that maybe the world could find their location and snatch them back home.
Where do we begin?
Where do we commence to become human beings instead of egotistical missiles, pointing at one another, threatening life and limb?
It’s not so different from those ten survivors.
Find someone who’s providing water to the world. Food. People who are trying to come up with shelter. Matter of fact, there’s a company out there right now manufacturing cardboard houses. What a great investment.
Can we envision a world where sanitation is not a luxury, but rather, a necessity for each and every one?
And the fire of energy gives warmth and light.
Do not preach me any sermons nor talk to me about political parties or try to inform me of the power of education until you put your mind in a survival mode for this planet and help those who look like you to have clean water, food, shelter, sanitation and fire.
The good news is, our ten survivors were rescued two-and-a-half months later.
The better news is, they woke up each morning with water to drink, food to eat, a place to sleep, a location for their waste and fire for their energy.
They always felt a little bit at home.
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