On survival at all costs

I have always been fascinated by survival, stories of survival, the dynamics of survival and the psychology in small groups of survivors.
 
And, of course, I've always wondered if I would be one to survive or one to die. I don't know how strong my survival instinct is. Not very, I would think, but a) I might be surprised and b) it's become much stronger with the arrival of my son.

At twelve and thirteen, I was already writing stories about death and survival (I still have some of them) so you can say it has been a lifelong fascination.

The best three books I've read about it, although I'm sure there are countless more out there, are "Into thin air", "Adrift" and "Alive!"

"Alive!", which recounts the ordeal of the Uruguyan rugby team crashed in the Andes, is the most stunning and the most gruesome. The grizzly details defy the mind. So does the feat of Parrado and Canessa's hike to get help.

I read it over this week and it leaves me with countless questions. Would I eat the dead bodies of friends? Is surviving really worth the horror? How much can the body take? And mostly, surviving so incredibly, what does it all prove, what does it change?

This is one story where the survivors went on to lead their ordinary lives. Some refused to be defined by that experience. But so if you can endure the grief, the pain, the horror, the fear, all to go on and live an ordinary life, what's the meaning of it all? What's the point? What's the epiphany? Is life so precious in itself, that it's worth all this?

Passers-by, feel free to tell me what you think.