It is a World War II epic masterpiece that is a compelling testament to the strength of will and resilience of the human spirit. It is an incredible journey of survival amid unspeakable cruelty and brutality in a specially-crafted hell on earth where the forces of evil meted punishments that would make even the prince of darkness himself proud. I shed tears of pity, almost seventy years late, for the precious lives that had been dehumanized and extinguished in the hands of sadistic maniacs who let the war strip them of what were decent and civilized.
The brutality of the war that reduced human beings to vile animals could never be fully comprehended by those of us who only saw brutal acts as mere words laid out on the pages of a history book or as re-enactments in a Hollywood make-believe saga. We would never understand what torture really meant and the power and depth of fortitude that shielded real men from complete moral and emotional annihilation. Such nerve of steel made them heroes, if not in the classic sense, then in that awe-inspiring recognition of what is true and valiant in each of us. Maybe that is the thin camouflage that spells survival or defeat, that acknowledgment, that respect, for what is beyond human endurance. But somewhere in that seeming void beyond is where the outstretched hand of the Redeemer awaits those who reach out and grasp that spiritual lifeline from a force greater and more enduring than their own. The healing salve of his Spirit will then renew and mend the broken fragments of the soul that no pain, nor torture, nor deprivation, nor mental anguish can ever impinge on again. That is Louie Zamperini's saving grace.
War is a curse on mankind, and yet, something that had to be faced and borne in the balancing act of life when one nation has to defend a cause as well as the rights of its free people. The price is excessive, the toll unimaginable, the cost of life untold. The heinous and vicious acts of the enemies that use power as an advantage against the weak and defenseless are abhorrent deeds that cry to heaven, What an ironic twist that in order to end such inhumanity, the greatest country in the world had to inflict on the torturers an equally inhumane act. Like Sodom and Gomorrah, Nagasaki and Hiroshima burned. Call me un-Christian, but after reading this book, for me,without question, the end justified the means.
The brutality of the war that reduced human beings to vile animals could never be fully comprehended by those of us who only saw brutal acts as mere words laid out on the pages of a history book or as re-enactments in a Hollywood make-believe saga. We would never understand what torture really meant and the power and depth of fortitude that shielded real men from complete moral and emotional annihilation. Such nerve of steel made them heroes, if not in the classic sense, then in that awe-inspiring recognition of what is true and valiant in each of us. Maybe that is the thin camouflage that spells survival or defeat, that acknowledgment, that respect, for what is beyond human endurance. But somewhere in that seeming void beyond is where the outstretched hand of the Redeemer awaits those who reach out and grasp that spiritual lifeline from a force greater and more enduring than their own. The healing salve of his Spirit will then renew and mend the broken fragments of the soul that no pain, nor torture, nor deprivation, nor mental anguish can ever impinge on again. That is Louie Zamperini's saving grace.
War is a curse on mankind, and yet, something that had to be faced and borne in the balancing act of life when one nation has to defend a cause as well as the rights of its free people. The price is excessive, the toll unimaginable, the cost of life untold. The heinous and vicious acts of the enemies that use power as an advantage against the weak and defenseless are abhorrent deeds that cry to heaven, What an ironic twist that in order to end such inhumanity, the greatest country in the world had to inflict on the torturers an equally inhumane act. Like Sodom and Gomorrah, Nagasaki and Hiroshima burned. Call me un-Christian, but after reading this book, for me,without question, the end justified the means.
When I take a serious inventory of my cache of blessings, I will pause to reflect with greater appreciation and gratitude something that, if not nurtured, can easily slip away, a gift paid for by the blood and tears, and suffering of those who sacrificed all that they hold dear that I may enjoy such precious offering: FREEDOM!
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