Thriving In Our Antarctica

Using What We Have Cultivated For the Benefit of Others

My favorite story is that of Ernest Shackleton and his expedition to Antarctica in the early 1900s.

Shackleton and his crew desired to be the first to reach the southernmost continent. But, as the autumn months passed and temperatures plummeted, his ship froze in the sea and was later crushed between ice floes, forcing him and his crew to live upon the ice for two years. Their only hope of escape was to use the wooden rescue boats to cross the ocean once the waters were navigable. 

Just miles short of Antarctica in mid-winter, Shackleton recalls the great irony of their situation:

The disappearance of the sun is apt to be a depressing event in the polar regions, where the long months of darkness involve mental as well as physical strain. But the [crew] refused to abandon their customary cheerfulness, and a concert in the evening made the Ritz a scene of noisy merriment, in strange contrast with the cold, silent world that lay outside.

Despite harsh subzero temperatures, floating in dark oceanic loneliness, the crew found a way to cultivate joy amongst themselves. That does not mean every crew member was joyful every second of the two years stranded on the ice. They weren’t. But they worked together, carried one another, and encouraged each other so that no man ever gave up. The community they built upon the ice sustained them. And miraculously, not a single man died during those two years stranded.

This story is not only one depicting individual resilience and the human will to survive. It is a story of how a community can work together, not just to exist in difficult times but to thrive. Not just for individuals to live for themselves but to notice their brother struggling and help them. Not just to live in a survival-of-the-fittest mindset but to thrive in mutual care and cooperation. Not just to wallow in pain and misery through difficult situations but to collectively cultivate joy and noisy merriment for the benefit of all. 

I wonder if the same can be true for us. 

Despite what darkness and seeming isolation in which we find ourselves, is it possible to take what we have been individually cultivating within (kindness, peace, and love) and share it with others? Is it possible to become a community that mutually encourages and sustains one another so that all may not just exist but thrive?

Question

1. Think about your community, whether it be your family, neighborhood, small group, online community, support group, book club, etc. What can you do to encourage a community of mutual care and cooperation, a community that does not just exist but thrives? 

Peace,

Brandon