Good Word Wednesday

I recently finished Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. As a writer, I was amazingly impressed with the author's ability to weave a story spanning continents and generations from the notes she read in journals and gathered in interviews. (She also wrote Seabiscuit, soooo she's kind of awesome.) Oh, and did I mention it's true? Every word. So she not only had to make the story compelling to read but remain completely factual out of respect for those represented.

But as inspiring as the writing is, the story is what made me unable to put Unbroken down at night. Here's an excerpt of the book description:

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood.  Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War. ... The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini.  In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent...  As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics.  But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown. ... Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater.  Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. Telling an unforgettable story of a man’s journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit.

It's not even so much the story but this man - with character we all want to possess and flaws we all have, too - that compels you to keep reading. How often we face challenges far less extreme but feel like giving up or giving in. Louis Zamperini should have crumbled and died time and time again. But instead, his life became a story of hope for millions of people - hope that we all have access to, if we choose to smile in the face of tragedy, believe in times of fear and hope with every breath.