Perhaps you have seen this disturbing movie; Cormac McCarthy’s vision of what’s left after the world suffers a final apocalyptic event.  Watching the film, you cringe, all too aware this dreadful scenario is likely if such an event were to happen.

Beyond the incredible acting and setting, beyond the human drama the film so masterfully portrays, there is something else to consider.  There are a few still alive who have suffered such an event.  You know what I’m talking about if you’re familiar with the siege of Leningrad during World War II.

The parallels are frightening: the cannibalism, the lawlessness, the hunger, the despair.  Tens of thousands died of starvation, yet the Russians endured.  Encircled for nearly 900 days, they endured the relentless cold without heat or electricity, the utter darkness of night, the piles of dead bodies in the streets, the constant artillery fire from the Germans who were determined to raze the city.  How?  By way of love for their city, their determination, and their love of life.  And by practicality.  Violate any rule associated with the rationing of food, and you would be shot.  No hearing or trial, no sympathy of any kind; just a gun pointed at your head and fired.