The Lessons Life Teaches, A Collection of Short Stories.

The Island of Wilson

A small ship in the Pacific Ocean caught fire and began to sink. Three men abandoned the ship into a small life raft. After a while they drifted away from the rest of the survivors. A couple of weeks later, they sighted a small tropical island in the distance. They paddled desperately toward the island and eventually landed safely on its sandy shore. The small island was a tropical paradise. It had plenty of coconut and fruit trees, an unlimited amount of crab and other sea food, and a few freshwater springs. However, the island was totally uninhabited with no signs that it had ever been occupied by man.

The three men, who had never met before, were very different in background. Two were of the same religion and other was of a different faith. There were also many other cultural differences between them, as they had grown up in different parts of the world. After months on the island, with no possibility of rescue in sight, one of the men announced there needed to be someone in-charge. He declared he would be the president of the Island of Wilson. He said he named the island after the volleyball in the movie Cast Away. It was just coincident that his name was also Wilson. The other two men, Richard and Andrew, didn't care who was president, so they both humored him and voted him in.

Not content to just be president, Wilson wrote a document of laws to govern by. The first law was the official religion was going to be his religion. Andrew, the man who was a different religion, said that wasn't fair. I think we should have freedom of religion. President Wilson said, let's put it to a vote. No surprise Wilson's and Richards's religion was adopted as the official religion. Vote after vote, Andrew was subjected to all sorts of laws to control and manipulate his life. For the most part, he just ignored all of the silly island laws.  This greatly disturbed the president. One day with great self-importance, and sanctimony, President Wilson declared that abortion was now illegal. Andrew said, I didn't even vote. The President said, you didn't need to, you were out voted by our two votes. Andrew continued, there are not even any women on the island. The president said my administration is proactive. I believe in being prepared for the future.

Getting tired of being disrespected and having the Island of Wilson's laws disregarded, the President concluded that there must be just penalties for disobeying the laws. Especially, as one of them never attended the official church and was outwardly irreverent about the abortion law. The penalties were voted in; two to zero. There were small penalties for minor infractions and death or removal from the island for the major ones.

Several weeks later, Wilson and Richard came to Andrew and said you have been found guilty of not attending the official Island Church and you admittedly won't denounce your belief in abortion. By the official laws of the island, you are hereby sentenced to either death or removal from the island by nightfall.

Andrew in disbelief, said that is unfair. If there were two fair people and only one of you guys, we would have voted for freedom of religion and not tried to make all these rules to control other people's bodies and lives based solely on your beliefs. President Wilson, then spoke, "The law has spoken. Are you going to leave the island?" Andrew said, "Are you kidding? No, I will just move to the other side of the island and leave you alone."

As the two men were walking away, Richard asked, "Did we have to kill him?" President Wilson said, "If one does not obey the laws, they must be punished by the laws." After some silence, Richard asked President Wilson when was the next presidential election? Wilson said, "It doesn't matter, because the President just appointed me the Eminent Lifetime Ruler and King of the Island of Wilson."