The Value of Suffering

In my last post I mentioned that I was in a reading challenge here and that I would be doing analysis or a sorta of review on certain chapters that spoke to me.

Thus, "The value of sufffering" a chapter in the book which I found really profound and I would be sharing my views on it.

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The chapter captures the reader with an exciting true life story, which took place during the 2nd World War, precisely 1944. Initially about a man Hiroo Onoda, a Second Lieutenant of the Japanese Imperial Army, with a mission to slow the progress of the Americans on a small Island in Philippines, on strict orders to never surrender. Essentially a kamikaze mission.

The Americans within days of their arrival on the island overwhemled the small japanese army with few surrendering and most dead. However, Hiroo and three of his men, escaped into the jungle and began guerrila warfare campaign against the U.S. troops. Killing stray soldiers, destroying food supplies, basically still carrying out the initial orders giving to him. This went on a decade even after the war had ended, but living in the jungle with no access to the news that the war had ended.

Hiroo Onoda and his men, what was left of it continued to terrorize the Island. The Japanese government seeing that there were a lot like Onoda scattered around in different jungles in hiding. The Japanese government, using aircrafts scattered flyers declaring that the war was over and the lost soldiers should come out of hiding and return home.

However, Onoda thought this was a ploy by the American army to lure them out of hiding. Even after several attempts by the Japanese over the decades Onoda continued carrying out his now non-existent mission. When his last companion Kozuka died, the news of his death reached Japan and the probability of Onoda being alive rose and soon his story became a thing of lengend as the years went by.

Ultimatly, his time in the jungle came to an end when a college dropout in search of adventure embacked on finding the fabled legend of Onoda. The journey of Norio Suzuki, in this book was also seen as a form of suffering. He found Onoda in four days. Suzuki spent some time with him and asked why he never surrendered.the answer was simple he was giving the oredr to never surrender, even thirty years after the war. Then this same quesion was posed to the hippie boy, why he decided to embark opn such an adventure leaving behind his comfortable life.
This two men have been brought together under the most curious of circumstances, two well intentioned adventurers chasing false visions of glory, like a real life Don Quixote and Sacho Panza.

Humans seem to dedicate their life to seemingly useless or destructive causes. on the surface it does not make sense. Onoda said he regretted nothing later in his life, he claimed he was proud of his choices, and it was an honour to dedicated a sizable part of his life to a non-existent empire.

The most important thing would be that these men chose how they suffered. It is a known fact no one can escape suffering in life, but choosing how and why you are suferring adds value to your life.

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@aisaac

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