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On January 15, 2009, Captain Chesley (“Sully”) Sullenberger was piloting a US Airways jet from New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina. A few moments after takeoff, the jet ran into a flock of birds, which knocked out power to both engines. Sully knew he could not make it back to the airport, so he decided to land the plane in the Hudson River. Miraculously, the plane landed intact and stayed afloat long enough to get every single passenger and crew member off safely. Sully is now an internationally known speaker on the subject of airline safety, using the lessons he learned from this most difficult situation to prevent future disasters. As Friedrich Nietzsche so aptly put it, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”
Indeed, the lessons learned from overcoming difficulties can last a lifetime. In 1886, Helen Keller, who had become deaf and blind after a childhood illness, learned how to communicate with others through the use of sign language (painstakingly learned from her “Teacher, ” Annie Sullivan). This accomplishment affected the rest of Helen’s life: She became the first deaf and blind person to earn a bachelor’s degree from Radcliffe College and went on to become a world-famous speaker and author. Her triumph over her disabilities taught her that any person can change the world, if they truly believe in themselves.
In 1962, the South African apartheid activist, Nelson Mandela, was sentenced to life in prison for his political activities. Did he spend his days bemoaning his fate or complaining how unfair life was? No—he used his time in prison to earn a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of London. Twenty-seven years later, he was released from prison and vowed to use everything he had learned while incarcerated to fight apartheid peacefully and politically. In 1993, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
There is no doubt that physical pain is an excellent teacher. A child who puts his hand on a hot stove burner will not do so again willingly. (Even the family pet will learn from a similar experience.) But the pain the body feels because of a fall, or a cut, or some kind of illness will eventually wear off. The pain and suffering felt in the mind, however, will last for years, informing all our future actions and teaching us the truly indelible lessons of life.