The kid started smoking at 5 and drinking at 8. He ran away over and over, fought in the streets, and robbed strangers and neighbors alike. He slashed his teachers' tires, threw things at cops, and vandalized train tracks. Sounds like a parents' worst nightmare, doesn't he?
A little later, he shook hands with Adolph Hitler.
Pretty soon after that, things went downhill.
Yet Louis Zamperini, the real life hero in the movie Unbroken and the book of the same name by Laura Hillenbrand, became an adult who personified character. Battered, bruised, fraught with repeated catastrophic chaos, failure and defeat, Lou embodied resilience, and its essential ingredient, character. Much of his character is formed in childhood experiences that may surprise you. (Some experiences described here are drawn from biographical sources other than the movie and book.)
No one in their right mind would suggest replicating the perils Louis engaged in, but there is much to learn from what was done with what he did.
[For more of this story, written by Daniel Griffin, go to http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...-lear_b_6393822.html]
Comments (0)