The power of accountability

I finished the book I was reading on the WWII soldier who spent 30 years in the jungle without learning the war had ended. What I didn’t know before reading was he had three other soldiers with him. One got separated from the group and surrendered in the 50’s, and the other two died in the 70’s, just a few years before the final soldier himself surrendered.

I wonder if he would have lasted as long in the jungle without those people there. He was the unofficial leader of the group and had to maintain morale and discipline.

In the story he was always the one who shot down any evidence they found that proved the war was over. He would find some reason to doubt the evidence as a psyop. Only after he was alone did he finally accept the war was over.

A belief, even a mistaken belief, is easier to maintain when others share that belief.