Connecting the "Road"

Pg.169

“Even if you knew what to do you wouldn’t know what to do. You wouldn’t know if you wanted to do it or not.”

When the boy and the man encounter an old man he proclaims this quote. Living in an apocalyptic world, it is very easy for a person to judge oneself for not being better prepared. The end of the world is going to happen eventually with global warming and wars in the Middle East but no one is preparing. People know how to prepare for a crisis by buying first aid, food, water and clothing that is appropriate for severe weather condition. Yet no one does. It’s possible that our willingness to socially belong is due to this. Nobody wants to be the insane cook in a tinfoil hat on the street deeming the world is going to reach its demise. Humans seek a future in which they imagine it to be. A future so advanced everything is electronically innovated. Man’s utopia. Mankind demands this future so why prepare for a future that no one wants?

    Soldiers and anyone taking a life have to deal with the old man’s logic constantly. Military training tries to transform men into tough and violent creatures. Years of target practice on dummies and bare hand combat should making killing easy. These men know how to kill. However, when some of these soldiers are deployed to aid the service, they can’t bring themselves to do it. After being given all the skills, they refuse to shoot.  Mentally these soldiers’s must be thinking their prey may have a family or maybe they are being intensely forced to do it by their government. Contemplation of this manner cripples a soldier and evidently makes him ineffective. Another group that suffers this mentality is anyone willing to attempt suicide.  A simple internet search of this topic comes up with millions of ways to commit this deed. Furthermore, committing this act can simply be just walking and plummeting off a cliff. Why is it so hard to commit suicide? Possible thoughts that pass through the victim’s mind are the people they will hurt by doing it and said person’s uncertain future. Suicide can be regretful because everyone touch’s someone in a different way and ultimately one person can make a difference. Elections for a president can be determined by one person. One voice can change the world.

   This quote helps the reader understand the book better because it shows that the reader is not that much different then the characters in the book. On TV there are show’s like “Survivor Man” that tell us how to survive in the worse conditions possible. How many of us go out and prepare for one of these catastrophes? Very few. Our race assumes that these incidents can only happen to other people. Ignorance is what reality shares with this book. Cannibals and cut throats are the same as businessmen in ties. If we don’t change our ways the “Road” will become reality.