The Art of Survival

The imperative to survive is confronting us more than at any other time in human
history. There are very many more people; a haunting vulnerability pervades the
air. An unmatched surge in the world’s population is guesstimated to propel
humanity to the inconceivable head-count of 8,000,000,000 in 2025 and
10,000,000,000 in 2050. There is the never-ending desire for decent lodging,
prosperous employment, low-cost mobility and lifelong wellbeing. Nevertheless, it
has been by now substantiated that the Earth’s resources cannot gratify, even
partially, the unrelenting yearnings of all of us. Multiplying social, political and
economic disproportions are certain to instigate further discontent that in turn will
egg on more conflicts and more dislocations upsetting whatever hopes of
tranquility we may have aspired to.
Not all people care to survive. Many others care only that they themselves should
survive. Individuals might concern themselves about living on and that others
belonging to the very same global community of which they are a part will also live
on. Although not necessarily infirm, people who are not particularly interested in
enduring will do little to allow themselves to endure and generally are not vexed
about the continuation of their fellows. They might not look properly after their
health, they might “vegetate” their lives away in a slothful passivity, and they are
baffling not only in their intimate social circles, they cause difficulties for their
superiors and co-workers where they are engaged. They do not have to be
criminals. These someones have no zest for life, sound off frequently, and are
miserable and apathetic. They merely exist and at length become burdens on
society which has to ante up for their untrustworthiness and refusal to exist for the
betterment of their confrères. Most people who hate others first loathed
themselves.
Then there are those whose individual self-interest is the actual motive of all
conscious action, the valid end of their human activity. These types might
dominate a close-knit grouping or even an establishment, and they must hold
control of the system they superintend manipulating the network's subordinates to
satisfy their cravings for power. Their sphere of activity is often constrictive and it
is of course based on experience, tradition and more often than not family linkups.
These swellheads thrive on what is determinate, and theirs is the exclusive mode to
perform during whatever exigence that might emerge. Superficially, these
egocentrics induce us to believe that their often sadistic modi operandi serve in
fact the methodicalness of the governing body they and their underlings are ranked
under, and so doing, their “beneficial” actions come to serve all, are for everyone's
gain. They are not.
The third category is that to which this essay is directed, and it is the one from
which we may derive a sense of hope—hopefully, too, the means to attain the
expectations we are seeking. There are those causal agents to whom we may
ascribe attributes unbeknown to the majority of society at large. These subjects
need to make a contribution on behalf of others by caring for themselves foremost
and subsequently reaching out to assist those with whom they subsist. All sound,
forward-looking societies have had these characters to set the stage to set in
motion an epoch of progress. These members of society are at the ready to take
part, to contribute to the welfare of themselves and those in their company. They
understand what it means to survive.
I am a survivor—so far! I have outlasted three 122mm Chinese rocket attacks,
three or four mortar blasts, four months with an infantry company in the jungles
bordering Laos and Cambodia, a plane crash, two robberies at gunpoint.... Still, I do
not consider myself an expert. But I do recognize that I had something to do with
my endurance. I have followed definite precepts that were taught to me.
Notwithstanding, I have always been gifted with the will to enjoy life. Scito te
ipsum!
My introduction to the theory of survival happed upon me when I entered the US
Army on active duty as an artillery lieutenant in September 1966. Until that time I
had drifted along in life not even thinking I might have to come through one day. In
the artillery I was made to make myself self-sufficient and more important, careful.
Discipline and anticipation of events were emphasized over and over and over in
my training. In Vietnam, along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, our 105mm howitzer artillery
batteries could be hoisted into the air by Chinook helicopters, and then planted into
some different point many kilometers distant. The routine for us was identical after
each and every insertion. We followed the same rules, we erected the
indistinguishable battery emplacement, we checked our instruments, secured the
area, and were ready to shoot and communicate after being dropped into an often
unknown, unfriendly environment. Above all, we could think that we might be
transferred again in a matter of hours, or remain fixed in our new location for weeks
or months. Maintenance was obligatory although not much appreciated, but it kept
disgruntled unit members alert.
Parenthetically, the US Army was not up to sustaining itself in Vietnam, nor did it
give its soldiers the motive, and the means, to create a new, propitious set of
events. Soldiers were ill-equipped. Undisciplined. Apathetic. Many of them,
lacking any hint of patriotism, shot themselves in the calf (The Million Dollar
Wound), neglected to take their anti-malaria medication and then winded up in
bathtubs filled with chunks of ice, and some even sought to kill themselves by
volunteering—deriving pleasure or death from undergoing pain, abuse and cruelty
—for hazardous missions: “Lieutenant, I'm not returning home.” The US Army
accentuated, very stridently, that they had prepared us to fight in combat. This is
not so. Most soldiers refused to trust anyone ranked above them. Disobedience
was the norm in Vietnam where I had to hold up against both the “enemy,”
whoever and whatever that was, and my own fellow combatants! In Vietnam, the
US Army was a contradiction of its own terms and consequently doomed to failure.
My military experience, however insufferable, did inculcate in me a respect for life
—my life! It made me appreciate the gift of being alive. That life had almost been
taken away from me. Today, I am content to be alive. And I continue to follow the
basic rules for survival many of which I learned in the US Army and employ even
when I write this essay.
If you have set your heart on surviving, please listen to me. You cannot remain
alive more than your family members, friends and colleagues by just wishing to.
You must do your utmost to make it become a reality. Above all, you have to
respect yourself before you can go on to esteem others. In fact, you are obliged to
study, contemplate and seek responses to the uncertainties, about yourself and
others, which haunt you.
One of the actions of great consequence to be taken is that one we are already
familiar with: anticipation. Think before you act, and reflect habitually. Plan your
days, weeks, months.... Set an endpoint you are inclined towards. Understand that
victory comes hesitantly and has to be tracked down unswervingly and with
adroitness. Do routine tasks as soon as possible to get them out of the way. With
the time left over, concentrate on the various more pressing undertakings before
you. Always endeavor to judge what is coming next. When you exit a bus, look to
the left/right for oncoming vehicles. (I remember when the plane I was in was
about to crash about an hour's flight from Caracas, I grabbed to my chest the four-
year-old next to me, and realized that in four seconds we might be dead. My body
was shaking with fear but I knew we all had to escape immediately when the twin-
engine hit the water. In Vietnam, when 122mm rockets were incoming, my body
shook convulsively but my voice was steady as a rock on my telephone operator's
PRC-9 radio.) Do not go very fast—speed kills and not just on the highway. Sleep
enough to be efficient. Eat correctly and be healthy. Without exception imagine
that by not doing what is right for yourself and your body and mind, future
complications will be caused by your negligence and stupidity.
It is accurate to say that preparedness is crucial to the prolongation of life or
existence. In Vietnam, for every soldier on the battlefield, seven were backing him
up. Helicopters had to be serviced, admin clerks typed reports, cooks prepared
meals, doctors cared for the sick and wounded.... In our ordinary daily lives we
must wash, clean our teeth, water the lawn and plants, iron our clothes for work on
Monday.... We hold responsibilities that require us to react, and the realization of
their success depends on our efficiency and enthusiasm. Being primed in advance
is an enormous asset for achieving prosperity and living longer than most others.
To accomplish our mission (survival) we must cultivate the skill of self-discipline.
To be in a state of readiness for whatever which might turn up, our attitude has to
be set to change state to suit the challenge at hand. Repetition is an ugly word. So
is routine. But these two sober-minded “axioms” must be complied with. We
cannot secure anything worthwhile without being zealous and steadfast while
doing our best to substantiate the meaning of our lives. If we fail to discipline
ourselves when we forge ahead on the way to our last stop, we will ripen into very
discomfited and discontented individuals.
Learn the meaning of the words “hard” and “strong.” We cannot be hard on
ourselves unremittingly while being fervent about getting to our target. This is not
clever. A person is strong when he or she knows when to be tenacious and when to
be toned down. You ease up to be fit for the next bothersome occasion.

Authored by Anthony St. John 1 May 2009 Calenzano, Italia

www.anthonystjohn.blogspot.com

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