While flying from Nashville to Portland, I finally finished a book that I started back in January. It’s not that the book wasn’t interesting; I just happen to read in sporadic spurts and February was a bit of a lull. I digress.
The book was called Endurance and it was the most insanely inspirational account of a 1914 Antarctic expedition gone awry. Sir Ernest Shackleton led 28 men into the treacherous territory and when their ship was crushed by the ice, they found themselves stranded and tested to the extent of human-will for roughly 2 years — never dry, never warm, always hungry.
THE BACK OF THE BOOK:
This fabulous account of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s epic adventure re-creates one of the most astonishing feats of exploration and human courage ever recorded.In August 1914, the Endurance set sail for the South Atlantic. The object of the expedition: to cross the Antarctic overland. In October of 1915, still half a continent away from their intended base, the ship was trapped, then crushed in the ice. For five monts Shackleton and his men, drifting on ice packs, were castaways in one of the most savage regions in the world.
Alfred Lansing’s vivid narrative chronicles the amazing thousand-mile voyage in an open boat across the stormiest ocean on the globe and an overland trek through forbidding glaciers and mountains.
The book recounts a harrowing adventure, but ultimately it is the nobility of these men and their indefatigable will to fight back and survive that shines through.
I’m not typically a self-defeating pessimist but there are definitely times when I think life is too tough to bear. If anything, this book left me to reflect upon my “trials” and ultimately realize that I’ve seen nothing worth complaint. These men were the dictionary definition of resilient and I have much to learn from their bravery.
In the end, my life is a lovely piece of cake — I’m humbled and endlessly grateful for the food in my belly and the dry land under my feet. Thank you Endurance for the lesson on perspective.
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