We need heroes and heroines, people to look up to--those significantly demonstrating the best life has to offer, who can show us the way through life. I’ve found a new personal hero, and the book about him is entitled Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. She is the author of another book I love entitled Seabiscuit, a story of a race horse whose heart to compete and live life to its fullest was a symbol to millions of people during the depression.
Unbroken is the story of a World War II veteran--Louis Zamperini--who was lost at sea for 47 days and then captured and tortured by the enemy for two years. It is an amazing story of survival, ingenuity, resilience, and forgiveness. I’m humbled to learn of this kind of person, this kind of life force. Though he is no longer with us (he passed to the next life on July 2, 2014 at the age of 97), this is a life that matters and will always matter. This is a life we can seek to emulate in positive ways.
I believe it doesn’t require such dramatic circumstances of incredible hardship for us to help our brain to reset itself and seek to do the right thing for the long term. At least I believe that's the case if the brain is properly balanced. Sometimes, I believe, extreme trauma can have an extremely positive imprint on our lives. Extreme trauma is often that which causes us to seek that which is truly important and leave all of the rest of the stuff of life to fend for itself. I don’t think I could have done that without balancing my brain. And, I don’t think I would have sought to balance my brain unless/until I was forced to seek assistance. And then, as it happened, it was an inside-to-outside experience. Having a brain that would move into a state of deep relaxation and reset itself–wow, I had no concept how truly incredible that opportunity was and will continue to be for me.
Louis Zamperini is a hero beyond imagination. And, given the capacity for each of us to function with a balanced brain, to prioritize what is important, we become, I believe, small heroes and heroines whose life matters greatly, much beyond our own time. I salute a balanced brain to lead us all to a life that matters.
