Hard Rock & Water

In the middle of the Atlantic sit two islands. Born out of rock, seldom nourished by the sun, like two wilful brothers they hold fast against the battering North Atlantic. They are Iceland and Newfoundland.

Island (noun) n, anything isolated and detached surrounded by something of a different nature;

Iceland and Newfoundland share more than their rugged appearance. They are isolated. They are similar in size. They depend on the fishery as their mainstay and have done so for centuries. The people are as rugged as the land. They drink excessively. They live intensely. They are fiercely independent. Their cultural roots run deep. Iceland has its sagas, Newfoundland its folksongs.

But that's where the similarities end. Although Iceland was much worse off than Newfoundland fifty years ago, from its humble beginnings Iceland has prospered but Newfoundland hasn't fared so well.

Lisa Moore, a Newfoundland writer, takes us on a journey to Newfoundland and Iceland to look at the notion of destiny. It has been said that character is destiny, if that is so then we need to take a good look at these two island brothers and ask why with so much in common was their fate so very different?

The weather in Iceland is as bad as Newfoundland's. Like Newfoundland, the place is full of rock. Unlike Newfoundland, they have very few trees. Unlike Newfoundland, the place has very few resources, save the codfish. Yet they prosper. They are not losing their young people for lack of work. They're not shutting down their outports. They still have their fish.

Newfoundlanders are aware of Iceland's success and wonder where they went wrong. Iceland has an extremely low rate of unemployment. Newfoundland has one of the highest rates in the country. Iceland has the highest literacy rate in the world. Only 66% of Newfoundlanders can read or write. With a population half the size of Newfoundland, a shared isolation and dependence on the unpredictable resources of the sea, Iceland has somehow managed to prosper with few resources against a formidable past.

Land (noun) n. a nation or a people;

Sixty years ago Iceland and Newfoundland were both colonies, dependent on the motherland. In 1944 Iceland, a desperately poor place, took its independence from Denmark. Five years later Newfoundlanders went in the opposite direction and voted to join Canada. Both countries at a crossroads chose very different routes and landed in very different places.

"Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit, and you reap a character. Sow a character, and you reap a destiny." Charles Read, 1814-1884