Resilience is Key to Getting out of a Sticky Situation

” A setback is a setup for a comeback”. This is a quote from a modern pastor, author and filmmaker, T.D. Jakes. I found this quote to be very fitting for this piece since setbacks and resilience are some of the major key points. For starters, those who are resilient could probably attest to the validity of the quote. Without resilience, one might find it hard to make a comeback from a setback in life. However, this was not the case for Louie Zamperini. He was able to discover his skill of awareness, and by enforcing this characteristic of resilience, Louie was able to successfully get himself and a friend out of a very perilous situation. It is because of the seven characteristics in “What is Resilience” that many people are able to get through setbacks in life.

As I had mentioned, Louie had a copious amount of awareness of the situation him, Phil and Mac were in. It was because of his awareness that he was able to get himself and Phil out alive. Louie experienced an abundance of trial and error, but he knew he could not give up. Had Louie not had any awareness, I do not believe they would have made it out alive. He could have easily lost control of himself and gone insane the minute the plane hit the water, but he knew he had a big task on his hands and stayed calm. It is for this reason, that I believe awareness was the key characteristic of resilience that allowed for survival.

Looking back at it, it is awfully tragic what Louie had to go through. He was stuck at sea, on a raft, for forty-seven days with minimal food and drinking water. During those countless days Louie had to overcome the obstacles of getting food and water in order for him and the other two men to survive. Finding food was not hard considering they were in the middle of the ocean that was filled with sea creatures. However, Louie ran into trouble with the sharks. They always managed to come when Louie was trying to retrieve a fish, but he was persistent with trying and eventually became successful at catching the fish. As far as water goes, it was best to refrain from salt water as that would dehydrate the men even more. So, whenever the heavens decided to open up and rain, Louie would try to scrounge up as much water a possible, but I’m sure one can imagine how well that went. It was difficult, but as it went with the food, Louie never gave up and discovered the perfect way to capture water and preserve it. Louie’s keen sense of awareness helped him to come up with new ways to fulfill the tasks that otherwise may not have been fulfilled without that characteristic of resilience. Awareness was a crucial part of his an Phil’s survival. Had Louie not been aware of their predicament, they may have died from starvation and/or dehydration.

When it comes down to the response to the obstacles, Louie by far had the most sound mind. He stayed focussed on overcoming the obstacles. He never gave up whenever failure struck. He used his awreness skills and ended up successful. Phil followed close behind with similar traits to Louie. Phil was able to stay sound enough to help Louie. With that said, I would have to say that Phil was most like Louie. In the excerpt from Unbroken, it says, ” He felt frightened, though not panicked” (Hillenbrand, Laura). The author was speaking about Phil. This proves he was more like Louie. Mac on the other hand, did not resemble Louie at all. He did not handle the obstacles well. In fact he did not handle the situation well at all. Mac gave up, lost hope. Because of his waivering hope he did not make it. Hillenbrand writes, ” …Mac’s body grew weaker, following his broken spirit.” This particular quote proves that he was nothing like Louie. Louie was very optimistic even though sometimes it felt like there may be no hope left. He fought for survival and that is what he got. He did not receive survival on his own, but he held up his end of the stick very well. Since Phil was more like Louie, they were able to work together to survive. Phil played a huge role in Louie’s survival. Had Phil not been there to pick up Mac’s slack, Im not sure if the outcome would have been the same.

To conclude, Louie’s keen awareness shows his pure determination and faith. By being aware of the situation and what he needed to do, Louie was able to have faith and hope that he would survive. When reading Louie’s story, one could learn that “a setback is a setup for a comeback”. Just the fact that Louie was able to survive to tell his story is a true representation of a comeback. Because of his unwavering faith, Louie is able to inspire others to never give up even when it feels as though the world is crumbling around you. Even during one of the darkest times in his life, Louie was able to find the light, and that was the key to his survival.