Small Islands

All play a part

Ben is keen to divvy up the day-to-day tasks and split the chores equally. Whilst Rachael is willing to climb the trees to collect coconuts and has sea legs to do the fishing, Dave thinks it is fine to do the delegating and hone a long-standing talent playing the bongos. Claudia feels like the one most suited to collecting the firewood and Ben has no intention of letting the chef skills that have taken years to learn go to waste. The bone of contention is the principle of not playing your part in keeping the island running. In the world at large, you can indeed make a good living from entertaining others with music if you get enough willing to pay to hear your output. On an island with an audience of just three, it is not going to work. Shirkers will need to be dealt with. None of the four propose to let anyone starve and signal clearly that if one were to hurt themselves then they would be supported through their recuperation. However, allowing one or more to sit about idly with the remaining picking up the slack is not going to be tolerated for long. Even if you can’t walk you can peel the vegetables and help as much as you can in various ways.

Claudia knows that one day there will be someone that will not muck in. No helping, no food is the mantra. However, once their tummy begins to rumble and they begin to faint people will relent and offer lifesaving food. Claudia wants to ensure that it will be the bare minimum.