Besides many one-to-one conversations, there were a number of group activities. In one session, seven groups got together and imagined that they were settling on a previously-uninhabited desert island. They had to decide on rules for the islanders to co-exist and it surprised me how similar the groups' ideas were. Although numbers of inhabitants varied between 200 and 2000, all sought peace and harmony and a communal way of life. Most opted for a barter system instead of using money, thinking that this would encourage consideration for others. The settlers would build simple shelters, eat the ample fresh food which would be growing on the island, and fish in the calm, blue sea. It was as if flower power had returned and we had found Utopia. Idyllic.
Real life, however, is not so kind. Whatever people's intentions, they can't control nature and this has been vividly demonstrated by the onslaught of Hurricane Irma across the Caribbean. Thoughts of the Caribbean islands conjure up images such as the groups at Biar had formed, but that can't be so any longer. Showing no mercy, the hurricane has devastated vast areas in its path. When it hit Barbuda, a small island in the Eastern Caribbean, it battered and destroyed over 90% of the buildings and left about 60% of the 1600-plus population homeless. Imagine how those people must feel. As it happens, Robert De Niro and billionaire James Packer already have a new resort planned for the island, so have pledged to spend money rebuilding and helping the locals, thus enabling their original plans to proceed.
Other islands, though, many of which have been holiday destinations, have also suffered and will need aid to recover. In a week, many lives have been changed forever. Nature can be wonderful, be an inspiration for us to live by, but it can also be destructive and we are but dust in its path. It's good to dream, as the groups did in Biar, and we should continue to do so until nature wakes us up and makes us think differently.