Earlier this year, I trudged down The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It was one of the chapters in On Reading Well by @karenswallowprior and, knowing it was a post-apocalyptic book, decided it was the first one I should get at. And I am glad I did.
The Road is a story about an unnamed father and son journeying west through the United States trying to find any respite from the destruction. Food is sparse. There is shelter, but not much safety. Having been abandoned by their wife and mother, the duo treads on into the gray future. Nevertheless, there is hope. Or at least that is what we are supposed to believe.
Hope and belief are key themes in The Road. What keeps someone going when despair is closing in? The father teaches his son throughout about “carrying the fire.” What is “carrying the fire”? It is a fervor for life. It is a mixture of perseverance and goodness. There are many times throughout the story where the father has to encourage the son to be brave, to persevere. Similarly, the son reminds the father of mercy, grace, and goodness. The question: How do you respond when the right thing comes with deep costs, financially or relationally?
The Road moved me to contemplate these ideas. Historically, we are afraid of stepping out when the cost is too steep, even when we know it is the morally right thing. Loving my neighbor will often mean I won’t have the time or money to accomplish some of my other goals. Yet this is what The Road pushes at.
The hope in The Road is a hope in others. It is a hope that there are others who are “carrying the fire.” As a Christian, I am relieved the hope I have depends on God who has already accomplished our salvation through the work of Jesus.