Tomorrow the Sun Will Rise

The tragedy wrought by Hurricane Florence reminded me of the hit movie Cast Away. May the Cast Away message bring encouragement to those who have suffered a series of unfortunate events. 

In an early scene Tom Hanks’ character, Chuck, delivers a lecture on the intrinsic value of our response when chance events enter our lives. 

Chuck declares that our response to events determines the difference between gain and loss, success and failure, life and death. 

A few scenes later, a horrific plane crash isolates Chuck on a remote island in the Pacific with nothing but a pocket watch, a pager, and several FedEx packages that washed ashore with him. 

Memories of loved ones spur Chuck to survive on whatever he can claim from the land and sea. Ingenuity and a gift brought by the tide eventually get him off the island. 

Later, at home, in Memphis, trying to reacquaint himself with those things that make life worth living, he reviews his experience with his best friend. 

Mid-way through the scene, Chuck talks about his previous fiancée, Kelly, who has since married another man: 

A few days after the crash I realized I had lost Kelly because I was never going to get off that island. 

I was going to die there; totally alone. I had power over nothing! 

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. So that’s what I did. I stayed alive. I kept breathing. 

Then one day the tide came in gave me a sail! And now here I am. I’m back in Memphis talking to you and I’ve lost her all over again. 

I’m so sad that Kelly married another man when everyone thought I had died in the crash. And now after the struggle to survive I don’t have Kelly. 

But I’m so grateful her memory was with me on that island. 

And I know what I have to do now. Got to keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise! 

Today's courageous hope brings tomorrow's sunshine.