Getting Stranded

When I was little I read Island of the Blue Dolphins.  I thought it was sad. I thought it was sad when the heroine was stranded, but it seemed equally sad when she was rescued. Today, I read about a baboon who is stranded alone on an island.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29441074

The baboon has been isolated there for three years. He can see and hear his family calling for him on the other side of the river, but when he was given a chance to cross back in a boat loaded with bananas, he chose not to. Meanwhile, the entire location, on both sides of the river, stands to become flooded due to a local dam.

Is it natural to become isolated from your own kind? The local authorities are not interfering, because they believe nature must take its course in the case of this baboon. But what exactly is nature? And is man a thing apart, or is man also just a part of nature?

Bow and I are not nearly as isolated as that baboon. We have family and friends who sometimes come to see us. We have each other, and we talk on the phone and on Skype with still others. Would it be better to have more social contact? Sure. But in the meanwhile, we are counting our blessings. Life is good.