Miracle in the Andes

I wrote this post this past July, but it never got published. Here it is now.

I just finished this great book written by Nando Parrado called, "Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home." Nando was part of a Rugby Team from Uruguay who was going to Chile to compete in an exhibition match. As they were flying over the Andes, the weather was so unpredictable that their plane crashed and it killed many of his friends...and his mother and sister. The story then tells about their means of survival, asking the tough questions of life, and ends up with Nando and two other guys Tintin (who has to head back early) and Roberto trekking up and down Mt. Seler on a 9 day pass until they finally find help and rescue the others.

There were a couple things that really grabbed my attention. One of them was a personal question that was very intriguing. Would you eat human flesh if it was your only means of survival? What if it was the only way to see your family again? Some people on the mountain saw it as a means of survival, some (deeply religious) debated if it was a sin or not to do so. They felt that it was a bigger sin to let themselves die by starvation when God saved them from this crash. After all, God wouldn't have saved them from this Crash unless for a good reason...right? The Catholic Church later declared that what they did was not a sin, but they did not know that at the time. The question still stands...what are you willing to do for those you love? Would you die for them? Would you sacrifice for them? Would you be willing to go as far as those people did in the Andes? I wouldn't be too quick to judge. One of my favorite quotes in this book is,

"Death has an opposite, but the opposite is not mere living. It is not courage or faith or human will. The opposite of death is love. How had I missed that? How does anyone miss that? Love is our only weapon. Only love can turn mere life into a miracle, and draw precious meaning from suffering and fear."

They all survived because of Love. Love for their families, Love for God, Love for the life they led. I think this goes along with what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:13;

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."