Goal #46: Book 1/50 The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. I finished this book in August, and I still often think about it. Its hard not to think of it in these times of dwindling natural resources, global warming, international tensions and the stock-piling of nuclear weapons by developing nations.

Without getting really political here, the global climate begs the question "What would it really be like?" What would I do if I survived a global apocalypse? And the global event that triggers is may not even be political in origin. Perhaps a "super-volcano" might plunge the earth into a massive climate change. There are 3 known super volcanoes in the US alone, and 4 others identified across the globe.

The Road is a story about a father and son who've survived the event, only to live in a wasteland that is covered in ash and devoid of food. They are left to scavenge any abandoned house they find, while constantly working to hide from the few ravaged bandits that roam the region looking for hapless survivors who may become the next meal.

The father's actions are solely motivated by the childish optimisism of the son, and though he is beyond hope of them surviving, he cannot bring himself to use their last 2 bullets to end the misery. Starvation is their biggest enemy, and winter is looming, so they set out on the road to try and make it to the sea, all the while working to avoid the cannibalistic bandits they encounter along the way.

Their torn and meager possessions - tools for survival - are worn and failing, and as they travel, they leave a trail of broken and useless articles behind them, painting an ever-bleaker picture of the future.

The story caused me to think about faith, hope, human nature, and ethics. It caused me to think about how insignificant things can take on disproportionate meaning, if we allow our perspective to become very narrow and short-sighted. It made me recall that the most important things in the world are not inanimate objects, they are our family and friends, our feelings, our relationships.

And it made me think that we all need these kind of reminders from time to time....