Resilience

When humans have come face to face with death or have been stuck in places many can’t get out there is always one that is resilient that brings everyone with them. Louie portrays resilience in humans to its maximum potential as he must overcome life threatening situations and survive.

Louie when faced with life threatening problems uses his problem solving skills to figure out a plan quickly enough to get the raft and try to save his friends. Although his first step was finished he knew he wasn’t done and proceeded to use knowledge he had learned from his past to tend to his friends wounds. He knew he had to take every opportunity as it came so when a bird landed on him he would snap its neck. The importance of an internal locus of control is immense because it sets up the correct thinking in a survival situation where even the smallest morsel is a gift such as when the bird was instead used as bait and caught a fish. Louie used his resourcefulness to adapt a failed plan into a successful outcome.

Even when faced with the problem of no water and surrounded by salt water Louie waited for rain and would figure out ways to catch it. However he had a setback. A whitecap sent salt water into the bowls and spoiled the water. Now Louie had to adapt to help his perilous friends. Louie instead used canvas cases and would harvest the rainwater with his mouth then spit it into the cases so they could not be spoiled by the salt water which shows he know how to adapt, overcome, and survive situations the purpose of this is to show how people must be aware of their surroundings or else good ideas will be useless and it will be a factor for downfall. This is a good example of understanding setbacks are a part of life because something that is so vital to survival was washed away but he kept strong and was resilient to the idea to dying.

Certainly Louie was aware hunger and sanity were fleeting however his hooks were being taken by sharks. To combat the insanity them men would tell jokes and stories of the past and talk about the future. Louie was aware of all of this because he had read on article about a similar situation happening in World War 1. Hunger was not as easy to overcome as it was less of a mental state and always growing. Louie would ties hooks to his fingers and catch the pilot fish that floated next to sharks. He knew that to give up would mean the death of them.

After being on a raft for a month Mac eventually passed. Louie and Phil remained unbroken and saw the need to continue fighting. Mac did not do what Louie and Phil did and that contributed to his death unfortunately. When the men would talk and laugh Mac would only listen. As the two would celebrate the small things such as the past or catching a fish Mac would remain the same. Resilience is what kept the Louie and Phil alive it is sad Mac did not have the same experience but if Louie and Phil did not keep their composure and quit the men would have all sunk together.

A personal story of resilience is of the end of semester and trying to get all of my work in on time and passing. I know that it would have been much less strenuous if I did it on time instead of now but that is in the past. I have to be able to put in all my effort and not stop because if I do then I could easily fail a class. The repercussions of failing would be much greater than if I did my work as resulting in a failing class would lead to a life of torment and tyranny by my mother. It is having awareness and a good internal locus of control are the most important traits of being resilient to me as if they were stronger I could have not been in the situation but at the same time these traits are going to get me out of this situation. Having good awareness lets a person plan what is ahead of them and adjust accordingly. An internal locus of control will steer a person in the right directions and create proper priorities. Without these I would surely fail and succumb to the feeling of I can not continue and I would quit, destroying any good opportunities to achieve my goals.

Photo by (vhmh) on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND