STRANDED

I watched the movie Stranded, about the 1972 Uruguayan soccer team plane crash. The team and many family members traveling with them went down in the Andes during a snowstorm. I was very moved by two aspects of the movie. One was the apparent randomness of who lived and who died in the initial crash.

There were 45 people on board, mostly young male premed college students from upper middle class backgrounds. Twenty-nine survived the initial crash. Of the 29, 25 had no injuries at all. The people who died were often sitting next to those who lived.

 I really resonated with the survivors who questioned this randomness of life and death. Why do some of us get dealt an easier hand, why do some of us die young and some live to be very old? Was Andrew’s life less because it was shorter? How much do we participate in how and when we die and how much of it is completely outside our control?