{"id":49337,"date":"2016-03-25T10:16:57","date_gmt":"2016-03-25T15:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=49337"},"modified":"2021-06-03T13:55:27","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T18:55:27","slug":"greater-love-hath-no-man-than-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/character\/manhood\/greater-love-hath-no-man-than-this\/","title":{"rendered":"Greater Love Hath No Man Than This"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Editor’s note: This article first appeared at www.marcusbrotherton.com<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

As a prisoner of the Imperial Japanese Army in the jungles of Thailand during WWII, Ernest Gordon, a commander in a Scottish infantry battalion, saw firsthand the depths of depravity that can happen when man sinks to his lowest.<\/p>\n

At age 24, Gordon was captured while escaping from Sumatra after the fall of Singapore. With other prisoners he was marched into the jungle to build the notorious bridge on the River Kwai.<\/p>\n

Starvation, beatings, disease, and dawn-to-dusk slave labor were hallmarks of the death camp. The Scottish and British soldiers, normally bastions of composure, good cheer, and self-discipline, were slowly influenced by death\u2019s destructive grip. Morale broke down, along with concern for one\u2019s fellow man.<\/p>\n

Over time, \u201cnothing mattered except to survive,\u201d wrote Gordon. \u201cWe lived by the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest. It was a case of \u2018I look out for myself and to hell with everyone else.\u2019 The weak were trampled underfoot, the sick ignored or resented, the dead forgotten. All restraints of morality [were] gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, slowly, something remarkable began to emerge in the camp.<\/p>\n