The Island Story

The island story, as it is fondly called by everyone, tells the story of star crossed lovers. How in love they were, and how this love would be thwarted by outside forces. The main characters in this story seemed to have everything going in their favour, but distance and the gripping need to see each other; two powerful agents indeed united them again, and subsequently put a tragic end to their love story. This story sheds light on the concepts of choice and desperation, pinpointing that the decisions we make in desperate situations never yield perfect results.

While Mark told the story, I automatically put myself in the girl's position. Being female and the hopeless romantic that I am, I was forced to see a girl who earnestly longed to see her partner again. A girl who would risk crossing seven sees, just to meet "the one." Despite the purity of her intentions, her desperation was a recipe for disaster, and an unwise decision was made. The compassionate female in me would say, "she did it for love and everyone should cut her some slack!" I decided that the boatman wasn't to blame either because he might've had a family back at home, who probably depended solely on him for their sustenance. Taking her to see her boyfriend without paying the fees would've been a recorded loss. I blamed the friend who spilled the secret, assuming that he just couldn't keep one, even when his friend was obviously happy. Most importantly, I accused the rich man of taking advantage of the poor girl's vulnerability.

However, I realised after listening to everyone's argument, that I only arrived at that decision because of my propensity for unilateral thinking. I started to see the numerous sides to the story that I didn't explore. It was quite interesting, listening to Darina when she justified the actions of the rich man, claiming that he was honest in his dealings. He had truthfully mentioned what the girl needed to do to receive help from him. She also believed that the girl could've found alternative methods of contacting her lover and deception should have never been an option.  Semone felt the friend made a huge sacrifice by informing his friend of his partner's deception, therefore he earned his sympathy. Meanwhile, Vuoke, who probably is as hopeless a romantic as I, maintained that the girl had earned all of her sympathy. She mentioned that everybody has a tendency to make unwise decisions in moments of hopelessness. 

On reflection something stood out to me, everybody judged this story based off of their personal views and interpretation of the story. This begs the question: "How critically do we analyse situations or stories before making decisions?" It appears that Marks story, despite being very short, had different sides to it and the listeners chose the sides which appealed most to them.

My reflection is quite long... Please bear with me ):