Joy from of the depths of despair

It’s a remarkable story . . . Just ask any Search and Rescue group in this country how perilous the wilderness is when you take it too lightly.

It’s over now - the Wild Boars and their coach are out and safe. Collectively, the world has breathed a sigh of relief, and the rescue that teetered on the brink for days succeeded against the odds. Life goes on, and happily, it’s a story without the shadow of tragedy hanging over it – they all got out.

It’s a remarkable story that came out of the unremarkable – a soccer team being taken on a tour through a well-trodden cave system. They weren’t prepared – but then, it was just a benign wander after practice. They didn’t anticipate a day walk turning into life or death.

Just ask any Search and Rescue group in this country how perilous the wilderness is when you take it too lightly. How many times have people been plucked to safety, having gone into the countryside playing it by ear?

But this is something worth pondering. Anyone who knows caving or cave diving knows that there is no natural light in there. Once you are deep enough into a cave, you literally cannot see your hand in front of your face.

It’s like they say – the desert is probably the quietest place on earth, but it’s hard to imagine sensory deprivation unless, of course, you live with blindness or deafness.

This group survived nine days in total darkness alone, confronting fear and pondering a slow descent into madness and eventual death.

These were young teens with one 25-year-old to help them get through it. The mental strength required to get through those first days was enormous.

So maybe it was an ill-conceived trip and poor judgment on the coach’s behalf, but he then had the enormous burden of keeping the boys sane, buoyant and working together. In the cold and dark, with no food.

It’s difficult to get your head around this. But they simply had no choice. Hold out, or curl up and give up.

It’s a real thing. People in extreme situations living with the uncertainty of rescue have died when physically they could have survived longer if mentally they could have held on. German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer called it Wille Zum Leben, or will to live.

As you’d expect, this is a complex notion which weaves in and out of daily life and all of the struggles we face, but in extreme situations like the fight for survival in Tham Luang, during such horrific experiences it follows that people who have a reason or purpose in life will often appear to fare better than those who may find such experiences overwhelming.

The boys in the cave had water, shelter, and each other for warmth. Physically, they probably could have gone on longer, but psychologically many of them must have been at the edge – the coach even more so.

But the way in which they held together and held on showed extraordinary presence of mind and immense willpower.

Now they’re out, in time they’ll tell us how it was in there in graphic detail. For now, we can only use our imaginations to take us there and hope that if it were one of us, we could find the same level of mental strength.