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Writer's pictureMargot Morrell

Have you had your fill of Covid-craziness?

Me too. That got me thinking about how the guys on Elephant Island were coping with uncertainty while waiting for Shackleton to return and rescue them.


Orde-Lees' journal, August 6, 1916...


"It seems almost incredible but is none the less a fact that two of the men got quite talkative after their methylated spirit "dope" last night. After everyone else had got their "heads down" these two warriors went on arguing about the position of a certain "pub" in Hull for fully an hour until Wild, unable to endure it any longer, roared out, "For God's sake, shut your bleating row, you two precious dears" and incidentally woke up a good many self-respecting sleepers. The two contestants who had occupied themselves in saying, "I tell yer it is" and "Well, I know it ain't" alternately about 470 times, both uttered their parrot cries simultaneously and shut up like oysters."

....


Okay so, that makes me laugh but it also makes me think about how easy it is during frustrating times to get into pointless squabbles.


We might also note in this journal entry that Shackleton's crew-members - even during a heated squabble - weren't hurling vile epithets at each other.


These days many are cautious about what they feed their bodies. Perhaps we should be equally cautious about how we feed our minds.

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