From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king
J.R.R. Tolkien
The Fellowship of the Ring
In the opening scene of the pilot episode of "Lost", Jack Shephard opens his eyes to realize that he is injured and lying flat on his back after his world has crashed.
Literally.
He survived the plane crash of Oceanic Flight 815, and now finds himself with his fellow survivors on a deserted island.
As he comes to, he gets to his feet, runs though the jungle to see the beautiful ocean to his right and Armageddon to his left.
Instinctively, Jack, who is a surgeon, runs to the left toward Armageddon.
Understanding the magnitude of the danger that is looming, he goes into his "life saving mode" and helps people avert every possible, unforeseen catastrophe imaginable.
After he did as much as he could for the day, he retreats, alone to a quiet place beyond the beach and tends to his own injuries.
One day after surviving the crash and becoming acquainted to his new "home", Jack and a few other survivors explore the island, seeking help.
They find a radio transmitter.
Excitedly they turn it on and try to transmit an SOS message.
To their dismay the radio is transmitting a message in French on an endless loop that when translated says,
"I'm alone now.
I'm on an island all alone.
Please someone come."
One of the survivors, who has a military background and is familiar with radio transmitters, determines this message has been on an endless loop for the last 16 years.
They realize then, that no one is coming.
April 1st, 2010
I am lying on my back, on a mattress, which is on my living room floor.
I have taken the mattress from Jess's bed upstairs.
It is now part of my daily routine. I use it to lie next to Jess's hospital bed, where she sleeps, in the middle of my living room.
The bed is raised off of the ground by about three feet.
I am looking up at her.
I don't sleep.
I lie wide-awake watching her.
It has been almost three months since she has been home.
I have survived the crash of my life and I have the sudden realization that,
I am alone now.
I'm on an island all alone.
And I say to myself,
Please someone come.
Lying on this mattress at night next to Jess has become my quiet area, beyond the reach of the world, where I attend to my own injuries.
It is also the place where I realize no one is coming to save me.
Except me.
It is a striking realization – when you realize no one is coming to save you.
It is also the most valuable realization you can ever have.
It is when you find your real self.
Fight or flight.
I will always choose fight.
So when the sun comes up, and the sound of cars on the road starts to trickle into my background noise on each new morning,
I realize – life goes on.
It is time to fight again.
And for that opportunity, I am grateful.
"We are fighters and we know how to win."
YOU ARE READING
6 Minutes Wrestling with Life
Non-FictionThey call it "The Greatest Sport on Earth" for a reason. It just took me 26 years to figure out why. If you live long enough, life will throw you to your back. And when it does, you're much better off if you've wrestled. You learn later in life how...
