The Art of Resilience

I knew they [his captors] could never break him.        Anthony  Zamperini

I don't deserve this award but I have arthritis and I don't deserve that either.                    Jack Benny

Most of us have something that we've endured. We did it either well or not so well but we got beyond it. I'm going through one of those periods, I'm enduring the painful, wonky hip and today- not at all gracefully. This is ironic because I just finished reading a book with the greatest lesson anyone could have on what the human spirit can endure. The book was Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, the story of what Louis Zamperini lived through mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. He was an Olympic runner in the thirties, then WWII intervened and his plane was shot down in the Pacific. He and another man survived in a raft for more than a month to be alas, captured and imprisoned by the Japanese. [It makes my painful hip the equivalent of a splinter-- though a big fat splinter...]

Now the trumpet summons us again...a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation', a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.
John F. Kennedy

To add to that theme, [I must be in the mood], we watched "The First Grader" last night. This film is about a Mr. Maruge of the Kikuyu tribe in Kenya who was captured and tortured by the British after his participation in the Mau Mau uprising in the early fifties. He was imprisoned for over eight years. At the age of 84 when Kenya announced that anyone in their country could have a free education, he petitioned his local grade school. When he showed up for class, the school didn't want to allow a man of his age in. He had to fight to have the right to learn to read and write. As grim as his past was, the focus of the film was on his present and it ended up being a joyful film. The same was true with Louis, grim, grim history that ultimately ended joyful. How the heck??

I keep asking myself, what do these two men have in common to survive their grueling experiences and then thrive in their old age? For one thing, they both believed passionately in their causes. Zamperini first in running for his country, then fighting for his country and then fighting for others.  Maruge fought against the colonial rule and unfair oppression by the British and then for his right as a citizen of Kenya to be educated. Both of them believed fervently in their causes that filled their earlier and then later lives. Both of these men never gave up despite heavy opposition and difficult circumstances. Both men kept their dignity when attacked repeatedly. Both men were kind hearted and modest and had marvellous senses of humor.

Today we are looking at a powerful lot of apathy in our citizens. Even though there was a tremendous turn out for the 2008 election, many of our citizens chose not to vote. I watched with tears in my eyes as the citizens in Africa were allowed to vote for the first time in their lives. These people cherished this right so greatly that they stood  in line, some overnight, so they could vote the next day. Here in this country some fat heads are trying to take the privileged of voting away from our citizens because they don't have the proper identification. Make no mistake: it's shades of Jim Crow raising its ugly head. Sadly those of us who should be fighting mightily for the threatened voters are distracted, or worse disinterested. The big 'to do' in the House and Senate, the cause for alarm and recrimination was all about the clothes made for the Olympians---they were made in China. It's a done deal and though not the smartest thing I've ever heard, truly a ten cent issue. Taking away voter's rights--- a million dollar issue. Where is the screaming and yelling about that? Where is the moral indignation?

Come on America, we can do better. Find a cause worthy of your passion and then throw yourself into it. Value yourself and your opinions and use the wonderful rights that our forefathers and mothers fought for: the right to vote and to express your voice for what you believe in.

susansmagicfeather copyright 2012 Susan R. Grout all rights reserved