October 3- You Must Be Independent

Mindful Monday
I am following through in my desire to become more mindful this year. In the month of October I am keen to stay mindful of my relationship to my community.

"People who move to islands do so to be independent of others."

    Before I go on with my story I need to stop and deal with a skewed perception. I was told before moving here that I needed to be prepared to live independently. I heard that more than once so I took it to heart. My first week here I stubbornly refused to call my friend, who invited us to try island living, because I did not want her to think I was going to hang on her. After some days she called to see why I was silent. 
    "Don't be ridiculous", she said. "We rallied to have you here." Life here does have potential for trouble if a catastrophic event cut us off from the mainland. No trucks with food would arrive and we would be the last location to receive assistance. That threat makes people buy boats, generators, and food storage. 

   I prepared to be independent from others but instead, I learned that my island friends would grow to include my church community and for the first time in my life, friends from all faiths and walks of life. This friendship enabled my family to become business owners who would grow our livelihood by word of mouth. 

   When harsh weather isolated us, neighbors appeared with tractors to shovel us out of unexpected snow. 

  When ill health came upon my daughter-in-law neighbors and acquaintances rose to offer assistance.

I knew we needed help and God sent us to our next landlord who chose us from many applicants because his house needed children. Well, by golly, by George, that house did have children in it everyday day.
Island people are independent thinkers but we work together often to achieve goals that benefit the entire island. 
   

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.” 

― John Donne, No Man Is An island

I am writing for 31 days this October about Island Life. Click here to see the other days of writing.