Bustling and noisy. Men and women, children and animals, each one with a place to be, a task to complete. Everything is in motion as complex as the gears and wheels and levers of a clock. The analogy is apt, perhaps heartbreakingly so. The parts of that clock do the same thing, the same way, over and over and over. Day after day, week after week, month after month. Year after year. There is no variation, there is no change. The minute hand cannot become something better, something more. And so it is for us. Tightly regulated and restricted, we each perform our function in accordance with The Lord’s Plan. Each of us has our own part to play, Father Emmanuel tells us, and we must content ourselves with fulfilling our purpose in His work. Most things we do together – meals, services in the chapel, work in the fields – but there are some things done in smaller groups as well. Everything is done in groups. I’ve never seen it spelled out anywhere, but it’s very clear that nobody is ever to be left completely alone and unattended for any length of time.
