Co-operation or Die?

[MaryN]

I am going to enter a plea for co-operation after a SHTF scenario. Let me tell you the story of my own little scenario. Many years ago, I lived for a couple of years on a tiny little island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We were there because my Father had been posted there.

It was one of a ring of islands stuck right out in the enormous Pacific Ocean - idyllic? Yes, and for a young girl it was a paradise. No school, just sun, sea, sand and days spent amusing myself. Sounds lovely, right? It was.

For the natives, however, it was an exercise in daily survival. They lived in huts, thatched with palm leaves and built on slightly elevated blocks (to keep the crawling beasties out. There was no agricultural land to speak of - food was provided by catching fish; keeping poultry and a few pigs; and of course coconuts, bananas and such growing things.

The point is, there was no room for going it alone. Villagers banded together to build nets and canoes to fish with - many hands landed bigger catches than could be brought in alone. Catches were shared and bartered for other things. There was no room for error. No supermarket down the road to trot down to - what you caught or grew was what you had. When a pig was killed it was party-time - and those folks knew how to party. The toddy came out and many heads were aching the next morning (I was too young to drink, but the roast pork was fantastic!).

There were arguments and a few feuds, and there was a prison on the island - you could hear the prisoners singing at night - but serious crime was very unusual.

It was a very simple life, and, looking back on it, an exercise in co-operation between community. Without that mutual interest in survival, those people would not have been able to survive. Even water collection was organised - there was no ground water on a number of the islands. Looking back, life was tenuous, but the goodwill and co-operation between the people made things work. I have fond memories.