Two dozen boys in uniform surrounded an old man, gazing at him respectively. They sat around him as he explained the circumstances that they were in. Their plane had crashed. They had all been on a plane, escaping from the war for a couple different reasons. The boys were from a boarding school, and were chosen to be taken away from the war. There were also some older people who had diseases that needed to be treated outside of the European theater of war.
“Last night our plane crashed into what seems to be an island,” Morrie explained. “Now it seems that this island has many berries on it, and the lagoon behind me is a good place for fresh drinking water. We will need to use the resources at hand, and use them wisely. Does anyone want to suggest a way that we could go about this?”
A boy named Chris stood up. “Well, um…we could like…try to put some groups together to like…get different work done at the same time…like…ya.”
“That’s a wonderful idea,” said Morrie. “Any other comments or ideas?”
A boy with fair hair stood up, and Chris sat down. “My name is Ralph, and I suggest that we build a fire so that if a ship comes by the island, it would see the fire, and would come to save us.”
“And,” a chubby boy with glasses interrupted, “we could put leaves in the fire to make it smoke even more. Then the signal would be even more visible, and I can use my specs to light it!”
“Great idea,” said Morrie.
Then a redheaded boy stood up. “I think we need to hunt!” Some of the boys cheered.
“But what if there are no animals on the island?” the chubby boy asked.
“There will be,” said the redhead, Jack, dismissing the thought.
Then Chris spoke up again. “We will also need a place to sleep when it gets dark.” At that thought, the cheering died down, and the boys seemed to remember that they were stuck on an island.
“Well, it looks like we have our work cut out for us,” Morrie concluded. “So we will split up into groups to start working on making the fire, gathering food, and building shelter.”
“By gathering food, you mean hunting, right?” Jack asked.
“My words stay the same.”
Chris and Ralph found a tall hill to build the fire upon, and they started gathering wood together. “Building a fire was a good idea,” Chris said.
“Thanks.”
“I like Morrie, how about you Ralph?”
“He seems like a wise man, but I’m afraid to get near him.”
“Why?”
“Because he has a disease.”
“Don’t worry about his disease,” Chris laughed. “It’s not contagious.”
“Oh,” Ralph laughed with him.
Jack and a dark boy named Roger were walking through the forest gathering food. As they were walking, Jack took a knife out of his pocket.
“ Whoa, where did you find that?”
“I’ve had it since we left home.”
“Why didn’t you mention it at the gathering?”
“Because that old guy probably would have taken it from me.”
“You’re right… wait, listen to that.” They were silent for a moment until they heard a squealing noise. “I think it’s a pig,” Jack whispered, breaking the silence.
“Should we kill it?” Roger asked quietly.
“I don’t know. The old guy probably wouldn’t be happy.”
“Who cares?”
“I don’t,” Jack said defiantly as he started creeping towards the squeals. A piglet seemed to be caught in the undergrowth of the forest. Jack wielded the knife in his right hand, and motioned Roger to stay still with his left hand. He then took one more step towards the piglet when a boy stepped out of the bushes. He stepped on the branch that was restraining the piglet, and the piglet broke free from the shrubs.
Jack looked up at the newcomer with fury. “And what do you think you’re doing?”
The boy was taken aback by the situation he had walked into. “Sorry, I didn’t know…” Then he caught a glimpse of Jack’s knife before Jack quickly slipped it back into his pocket.
“Well, move along!”
“Sorry,” the boy said quickly as he left the scene that he had walked into.
“Who was that,” asked Jack.
“Simon”
“What did we get done today?” asked Morrie as he limped into the circle of boys seated before him.
Chris stood up. “Ralph and I gathered wood for the fire on the hill.”
“It is ready to be lit whenever you are ready,” Ralph added.
“Perfect, and what about the shelters?”
The chubby one, Piggy, stood up and said, “The little ones, Simon and I found a simple way to make some shelters that could fit up to five people inside. We assembled two today, and will make the rest tomorrow.”
“Great job Piggy, and the food?”
Jack stood up. “I got four branches of berries, and we found an apple tree.”
“Nice work Jack, and you too, Roger.”
“I did most of the work,” Jack mumbled. Morrie ignored him and told Simon to get the food so they could eat. Once Jack brought the apples and berries to the gathering circle, the boys immediately started eating. As they ate by the ocean, Morrie told them a story.
It is about a little wave, bobbing along in the ocean, having a grand old time. He’s enjoying the wind and the fresh air until he notices the other waves in front of him, crashing against the shore . “My God, this is terrible,” the wave says. “Look what is going to happen to me!” Then comes along another wave. It sees the first wave, looking grim, and it says to him, “Why do you look so sad?” The first wave says, “You don’t understand! We’re all going to crash! All of us waves are going to be nothing! Isn’t it terrible?” The second wave says, “No, you don’t understand. You’re not a wave; you’re part of the ocean.
The littleuns liked the story, and soon the boys found a soft piece of ground, or a nice patch of grass to sleep on, and they slowly started drifting off to sleep.
Three days after their first supper, the boys began to fight about who would be the leader if Morrie died.
“I’m obviously the strongest one here,” Jack said. “I could squash Piggy like a bug.” Jack made a swift hand motion towards Piggy and said, “Squish squash.”
Then Chris spoke up, “Piggy is the smartest one though. He would make a good leader.”
“So which will it be?” said Ralph. “Strong or Smart?”
“We could have a vote” Roger suggested.
“That would be a good idea,” the boys agreed.
“Smart or Strong?”
Then Morrie stepped into the circle of boys. “It is not the strongest that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one who is most adaptable to change.” The boys thought about it for a moment. Then Jack, uncomfortable with the silence walked away from the circle. Roger followed him, and then the two twins, Sam and Eric. Simon, Ralph, Piggy, and Chris remained.
“What is it about silence that makes people feel uneasy?” asked Morrie. The boys had no answer.
One morning, about a week or so after the fight about a leader, Simon woke up just at dawn. He was going go to a grove in the forest that he had found before he had walked in on Jack and Roger’s hunting exploration. He loved the grove that he had found, and felt at peace there. As he got out of the hut that he had slept in, he heard crying. He was expecting to see one of the littleuns crying, but when he found the source, it was Morrie. Now that Morrie couldn't walk, he spent most of his time sitting on a rock near the lagoon. There he was, sitting on his rock, sobbing into his arms.
“What’s the matter Morrie?” asked Simon sympathetically. Morrie looked up at Simon and wiped the tears from his eyes.
“Don’t worry about me Simon.”
“Is something wrong Morrie?”
“I just get like this in the mornings. I feel so sad because I know I am going to die. But then I remember that I have you kids to watch over.”
“I’m sorry Morrie. If you don’t want to watch over us kids all day, I know a place where you could spend your last days in peace.”
“No, of course not. You kids give me purpose. The one thing that we strive for in life is purpose. Without it, we would go mad.”
“Well, aren't you already going insane. I mean, you know that…you know… you are going to…”
“Die,” Morrie suggested.
“Um, ya… isn't that making you mad?”
“We all know that we are going to die my boy. And it’s not such a bad thing. The truth is, once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.”
“Hmm, but it still must be very saddening.”
“Dying is only one thing to be sad over, living unhappily is something else.”
That night, the group of boys gathered around Morrie again. This time Morrie was sitting with them. He thought for a moment before he spoke. “I would like to announce to all of you the harsh truth of living. The one flaw of living, is that life is not an endless string. All who live, must die. You will die. But what we must understand, is that with dying, comes the understanding of life. Once we fall off the string, we are then able to look at the complete string of life, and see it as a whole, not as a moment. And that is when we can finally understand life. So now, as I come to the end of my very long string, I feel comfort in knowing that very soon, I will understand.” As the meaning of the speech started to sink into the boys, Morrie continued.
“So I hope that when I die, you do not get too sad over the fact that I am dead, but to only be sad that I am gone. And then, I would like you to go on with your string of life, and remember the things that I have taught you. And then, make sure you have a meaningful life, so that when you come to the end of your string, you can look back at it with happiness, and not regret.”
“He is useless,” Jack said to Roger the next morning. “Why should we let him tell us what to do when he can’t do anything himself? He can’t even walk anymore. All he ever does is sit on that rock coughing and staring through our souls. I don’t understand why the others look up to him, he’s going to die. That rock will be his deathbed, and he knows it!”
“Well,” said Roger. “I suppose we could just wait until he…dies, and then we could do whatever we want.”
“Or… we could do what we want now.” Jack let the words settle in for a moment. “Follow me.”
“Ok”
That morning, as the boys sat with Morrie, Jack and Roger were missing from the group.
That afternoon, Ralph and Chris went into the forest to collect some wood for the signal fire. As they searched the forest for dry wood, they heard a noise coming from some bushes up ahead. They looked through the bushes, and saw a beautiful grove. The grove was covered with tropical flowers of all kinds, and the sun above sent rays down into the grove, letting the flowers show their real colors.
Then a cloud covered up the sun, and the grove stopped glistening with beauty. Then the two boys found the source of the noise that they had heard. Jack and Roger stumbled into the grove holding what appeared to be a pig. Ralph and Chris watched in horror as Jack drew a knife from his pocket, and directed its point towards the pig. The squealing pig struggled but could not wriggle free from Rogers arms. Then Chris and Ralph jumped from behind the bushes and yelled “Don’t kill it.”
Roger and Jack, surprised by the voice, dropped the pig, and watch in astonishment as the pig scurried away.
“Don’t just stare at it!” Jack screamed. “Go catch it!” As Roger hurried after the escaping pig, Jack turned towards Chris and Ralph. “And you!” They tried to run, but Jack was too quick, and he grabbed Chris’s leg. Ralph kept running as Chris faced the point of Jack’s knife.
“I’m sorry,” Chris mumbled
“Oh you will be,” said Jack.
“You still have a chance to stop Jack.” Jack laughed at him and spat in his face.
“I do, but you don’t!” At that moment Roger came back and looked upon the scene with distress. “Roger!” Chris screamed. At that moment, Roger had to make a decision. He questioned himself which choice would seem right when he got to the end of his string of life.
Roger threw himself at Jack. He tackled him to the ground and they wrestled there for a moment. Roger made a bad attempt to punch Jack, and earned a big cut across his arm.
Then Simon walked into the grove and quickly analyzed the situation. Jack through Roger off of him, and took a look towards Simon. Simon ran at Jack, and Jack threw him to the ground. Simon saw the knife that was pointed at him, and accepted the truth. He was going to die. Jack stabbed Simon with the knife and with his last breath, Simon said
“Tell Morrie that I understand now.”
Simon’s blood spilled onto the soft ground of the grove. The clouds cleared, and the rays of sun shown upon Simon’s dead body.
Jack realized what he had done, and glanced at Chris, then at Roger, and then back at Simon’s body. He withdrew the knife from the body, and ran out of the grove.
The boys buried Simon’s body in the grove and then went back to tell Morrie what had happened. After they explained to Morrie how Simon died, Morrie whispered three words.
Love always wins
“What are you talking about?” asked Roger. “Jack won”
“Did he really?”
“Yes, he killed Simon.”
“But who really won?” Morrie rasped. The boys thought about it for a moment, and then let the old man continue. “Simon knew the risk of running into the fight. cough But he ran in cough anyway.” Morrie spat onto the ground. “Simon accepted the fact that cough even if he was going to die, cough he would save you. He was happy with that. And now, cough Jack is probably a mess, because he took a life today.”
The boys understood what Morrie said, and were happy that Simon was happy right now.
“Morrie”
“Yes?”
“Simon wanted us to tell you that he understands.”
Three days later, a littlun was walking on the beach, and he saw something in the distance. It wasn't just the ocean, it was a ship. He yelled to the other boys to signal the fire with leaves. Soon, the ship saw them and came toward the island. Everyone except Morrie ran to the shore. Soon a figure walked out of the forest towards Morrie. He had a knife in his hand, and strode towards Morrie confidently. Soon all the boys saw what was happening. When he approached Morrie he held the knife high in the air, and aimed it down at the old man who sat on the rock.
“I forgive you Jack.” Jack’s eyes scanned Morrie’s soft, loving face. Then a tear fell from his eye and he cried. He dropped the knife and hugged Morrie. Once he finished crying he ran to the rest of the boys to wait for the ship.
Then Chris saw Morrie still sitting on the rock. He ran back to Morrie and offered to help him get up.
“No,” said Morrie. “I am staying here cough.”
“What do you mean?”
“I want to live my cough last days peacefully.”
“Oh. Ok. I love you Morrie,” Ralph said as tears sprang to his eyes. He embraced Morrie for a minute and then wiped his eyes. He began to walk away, but then he turned back to the old man. “How did you make Jack drop the knife?”
“Love always wins”