To be half as strong as Chuck Noland

Day 29 of Movement Control Order in Malaysia.

Growing up, watching movies was our family activities. Rasanya ramai keluarga ber-family time waktu ni, alhamdulillah untuk rezeki ini. Bukan semua ada kemewahan ini, luxury of time, luxury of money to do so. Jadi, sekiranya anda sempat merasakan ini bersama adik-beradik dan ibu ayah, banyakkan bersyukur.

Wah itu dia sudah lari topik. Bahaya betul aku ni jawab soalan karang terpesong. Tapi tu mukadimah la kan :p mukadimah nak cakap aku pernah tengok dah movie ni dengan family aku masa kecik dulu, tapi time tu takleh nak reflect mana lagi, not in the right capacity ahah

Mungkin ramai dah pernah tengok filem lakonan Tom Hanks yang agak dikenali ini which is Cast Away, dimana sebuah kapal terbang FedEx terhempas di tengah lautan. In the middle of no where. The plane was distracted from its original course by 500 miles. Jadi, untuk mencari kapal ni, orang kena cari within the radius of 500 miles which is the size of Texas state. Memang sangat luas la weh.

Credit: Google (Chuck Noland after 4 years stranded)

Nak dijadikan cerita, Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) sorang je yang terselamat. Bermacam-macam dia buat untuk ikhtiar hidup. Dalam dia duk mencari-cari barang apa yang terselamat dia ada terjumpa a few FedEx packages that they were supposed to deliver. Ada satu bungkusan tu, hadiah seorang atuk buat cucu dia which is Wilson's volleyball. Ok save that for later.

Masa Chuck Noland cuba untuk menghidupkan api, tangan dia luka teruk sebab kayu yang dia guna tu tajam. Actually at this point aku macam, "ko pehal takleh cari kayu lain ke?? perlu ke guna hujung yang tajam? where's you brain?"

Okay lepas habis kritik tu aku pon husnudzon balik, oh ya mesti dah tak sempat fikir panjang sebab duk dekat pulau in the middle of nowhere, sorang-sorang plak tu mesti desperate nak pasang api.

So, since kayu dia tu tajam, time dia duk gesek kayu tu tertusuk lah tangan dia and he was bleeding like crazy so he was frustrated dia gi campak Wilson si bola tidak berdosa itu kat tengah laut haha. Tangan dia kan berdarah, so melekat la darah dia kat si muka Wilson.

Lumrah manusia, lepas buat baru menyesal pastu si Chuck Noland ni pon kutip balik bola tu and then lukis muka dekat si Wilson. And so he created a companion kat sana, Wilson. 

Kat sini aku sedar sesuatu, betapa pentingnya companionship in survival.

Even though in this case a lifeless companion, tapi the sense of having someone to talk to is what helps. And, based on a research done by Harvard University on what will keep someone to live longer is quality relationships. As in, in the community. Kalau kita ada kawan-kawan rapat yang selalu get together and healthy relationship with them then yes inshaaAllah we'll get further. Lagipun memang dalam Islam pon dah tunjuk bahawa berada dalam jemaah itu lebih afdhal. Pepatah Afrika pon sudah lama kita dengar, "If you want to go fast go alone, but if you want to go far, go together"

Maka, marilah kita membina komuniti bersama, yang utuh dan mengutuhkan sesama kita. 

Another thing that kept Chuck Noland going was his wife (Kelly). Looking at his wife's photo everyday gave him the reason to keep on going, to keep on living and breathing. Hebat bukan kuasa cinta? Hebat la :p

Jangan memain, Voldemort pon kalah dengan the power of love HAHAH

Fast forward 4 years later, the tide brought some kind of a metal piece which he then used it to make a sail and he was later found. It seemed like all is working good now for Noland but once he reached home, he was greeted by the fact that his wife remarried and that everyone thought he was already dead. Which make total sense for the people back home to move on kan? He was devastated by it of course, who wouldn't? Aku duk ingatkan satgi Noland ni suicide dah but no, he was indeed a smart and rational man. I particularly loved the part when he was talking to his friend, putting things into perspective. Okay sila baca dialog dia kat bawah gigih aku dengar balik this scene to share with you alls:

"And that's when this feeling came over me like a warm blanket. I knew somehow that I had to stay alive. Somehow, I had to keep breathing even though there was no reason to hope. And all my logic say that I will never see this place again. So that's what I did. I stayed alive, I kept breathing. And then one day all my logic was proven all wrong because the tide came in, gve me a sail. And now here I am, I'm back in Memphis talking to you, I have ice in my glass. And I've lost her all over again. I'm so sad that I don't have Kelly. But I'm so grateful that she was with me on that island. And I know what I have to do now. I gotta keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise, who knows what the tide could bring?"

Kagum bukan betapa optimisticnya si Chuck Noland. The last line hit me hard though. Sebab memang betul, kita tak tau because the best is yet to come. That is beautiful if you ask me. Life is one hell of a journey, kalau smooth sailing je where's the adventure of it? Boringgggg. If everything works out, if everything goes according to your plan macam mana kita nak jadi seorang yang flexible, seorang yang kreatif dan seorang yang kuat. Hanya dengan cabaran je we will grow. Hehe.

Jadi, kalau sekarang korang tengah melalui a difficult phase in your life, it's okay mate, walk through it one day at a time. Just focus on surviving it one day at a time. Tak apa, take all the time you need. One day kau akan sedar, "Enough is enough. I had enough. I need to stand back up"

Dan bila hari itu tiba, kau akan rasa sesuatu yang baru tentang diri kau. And honey, that is freaking beautiful! Kau dah berjaya. Boleh tepuk-tepuk pengakap kat diri korang. And aku akan bagi kau standing ovation dan jerit macam orang gila haha

Okay sekian sahaja coretan kali ini. Konklusi, i just wish to be half as strong as Chuck Noland.