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July 02, 2009

Looks can be deceiving

I've been following the story of the jet crash off the Comoros and the young girl who survived. The other day I was reading an article where her father expressed amazement that she was the one to have survived because she'd always been a shy and timid girl. Which seems to me to speak to the fact that judging a person on outward appearances is often a mistake.

This 14 year old girl clearly has an inner core of steel which nobody had suspected was there. Maybe it's because I'm the father of two daughters that I just wanted to cheer when I read that. I find the whole thing very moving!

From a piece today:

"In the midst of the mourning, there is Bahia. It is a miracle, it is an absolutely extraordinary battle for survival," France's cooperation minister, Alain Joyandet, who flew back with her, said at the airport. "It's an enormous message that she sends to the world ... almost nothing is impossible."

Absolutely extraordinary indeed! There are many other similar examples but we usually hear of them in association with more conventional tragedies... Like John McCain's experiences as a POW or survivors of the Bhutan Death March or of the Cherokee "Trail of Tears" or survivors of the Nazi death camps. Certain individuals simply refuse to give up in the face of seemingly impossible odds.

Truly it is a testament to the human spirit and a reminder of the wisdom of MLK's call to judge people on the content of their character rather than on outward appearances.

Posted by Kevin at July 2, 2009 09:58 AM