Unbound, part 2

This book was an overwhelming example of strong determination and perseverance.  The women who trekked thousands of miles and cared for each other and the men were so strong and so devoted to their cause.

I am glad to see that they were so devoted, but their extreme devotion ruined many aspects of their lives (and was horrific and disturbing at times).  The women who got pregnant on the Long March were forced to leave their babies behind - some in empty huts, hoping a family would be back soon to help and be willing to adopt the child into their own life; some were left on the side of the road.  This is the tragic side of devotion to a cause.  Their own family and futures were drastically harmed as they saw the group as more important than their own life and children.

Reading about the Long March did open up that unfamiliar aspect of thought, though.  Western society thinks inherently more about the individual than the whole.  Each person must fulfill their "own destiny", regardless of what that may come.  The people who marched called one another "brother" and "sister" and thought of their own group as a family.  This group-think can certainly get things done, but throws your individual life on the altar to the gods of the cause.  (Which reminds me of the group-think lauded in books like 1984 and Brave New World , showing the loss of freedom and thought that such a lifestyle brings.)  

The physical difficulties are incomprehensible - up mountains in the snow with sandaled feet, shreds of clothing, as the wind and the snow rips through your skin and face.  At the end of a long day enduring the tortures, stopping too soon or at the wrong place would leave you dead and frozen by morning.

I cannot think of a more grueling physical and emotional experience than this, as these were experienced along side of all of the perils of war.  

If you're looking for a read that will take you to the extremes of human capability, this is a great book for you.  It is beyond anything you can imagine.

Keep on reading!
Ms. Daisy