Louis Zamperini: A Positive Role Model

Life is hard. No one can deny that. People can wish and hope and pray for their troubles to go away, but all anyone can really do is get through them. Everyone in the world is on their own life’s journey, growing and learning from mistakes, loving and hoping, and striving for success unique to each individual. Louis Zamperini is one man who remained resilient throughout all the hardships he had to face, but it wasn’t always easy for him. It is through his triumphs over his tough times that he became an admirable role model for anyone experiencing difficulties. He displayed the honorable traits that all humans are inherently capable of if they dig deep enough within themselves.

Louie Zamperini survived the harsh conditions of the Pacific Ocean

in a warzone and the brutal POW camps, but not everyone experiences such dire situations. However, one can learn from his life before the war and his troubled youth and even relate what he learned to their own everyday life. Louie was a troublemaker and probably caused his family a lot of grief, between cops showing up at the door and paying for damaged or stolen property. He got in fights and was picked on as a kid for not knowing English very well. After a long time of acting out, stealing, drinking and smoking, and petty revenge plots, he decided to turn his life around. Pete got Louie onto the track team and soon he invested all his time into running. He loved the recognition and positive acknowledgement and strived to first win high school races, then he set his eyes on the Olympics. He trained hard and when he knew he couldn’t make the Olympics doing the event he wanted to, he tried for a different one. Louie had the courage to change and was able to do things he never would have been able to if he didn’t. What he learned through training, winning, and even losing sometimes, helped him prepare for what he endured during the war. He went from being a bored, mischievous boy to an Olympian and a man who knew about hard work, dedication, and keeping a positive, healthy state of mind.
Louie also demonstrated his ability to be a positive role model when he was able to turn his life around after becoming a damaged, PTSD-ridden, alcoholic as a result of his harrowing experiences.

Injuring his ankle again during training for the 1948 Olympics, ruining his chances of racing, had been the last straw for Louie and he turned to drinking. The nightmares of “the Bird”, his captor and main source of abuse as a POW, had gotten so bad where he reached the point of hurting others in his sleep and in flashbacks. His motivation to get a job and stop drinking were virtually nonexistent, until his wife, Cynthia, and some friends relentlessly encouraged him to go to a sermon by a man named Billy Graham. For Louie, reuniting with God had helped him turn his life around. Others may have to take a different route, but there is always something that can help pull people out of their anguish. Bad times don’t last forever, it just takes some patience, optimism, hope, and determination to get through them. Making peace with what happened to him helped Louie’s nightmares to cease and allowed him to visit Japan, offering forgiveness to those that mistreated him. Displaying self-discipline to change, as well as the pure, liberating act of forgiving others, is something anyone is capable of; Louie’s portrayal of this proves his much deserved status as a role

model.
Louie wasn’t some God-given savior, blessed with traits no ordinary human could ever dream of; he was just a man who had his ups and downs, just like everybody else, who persevered and hoped throughout his hard times. Sure, he battled being stranded in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by sharks, and his abusive Japanese captors while living in dreadful conditions—those encounters will never be discredited—but he also battled himself, probably the most difficult challenge for anyone to face. The internal struggles he faced and his victories over himself are what make him human. He serves as an example for all because of the determination, bravery, kindness, and optimism he displayed throughout his life, and the assurance that anyone has it in them to endure even the toughest of life’s trials if they only remain hopeful and confident in themselves.