Resilience Essay for Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Resilience Resilience is a word that few people know of and even fewer people possess it as a character trait. It means to be able to bounce back from something quickly. It can be developed from a tragic event that happened in one’s life or even a series of events that would break down a normal person. Resilience is a trait possessed by these four people who have definitely encountered and are still living through life changing events. Those four people are Laura Hillenbrand, Louis Zamperini, Russell Phillips, and Fred Garrett. Laura Hillenbrand is becoming a world sensation after writing her bestselling book, Unbroken. Sure she may seem like she is living the dream life with thousands of people buying her books every day, but what most people do not know about her is that she suffers from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a disease that drains all energy from the body and leaves it feeling lifeless and overly tired. The disease keeps her on bed rest for many of her days but she still finds time to write bestselling novels. She is resilient in that because even though she is living with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, she does not let it stop her from living her life and doing what she loves. She developed the disease while on a road trip with her boyfriend and other friends. They were driving along a highway when a deer began to step into the road. The car barely missed the deer by a few inches. Later that night a meteor came streaking across the sky. She was the only one who saw it. She then became very nauseous. Her boyfriend thought she had food poisoning but he would later learn that she had developed CFS, or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Louis Zamperini is a World War Two veteran and the main character of Laura Hillenbrand’s bestselling novel, Unbroken. Louis was born on January 26, 1917. As a child, he was constantly on the go and causing trouble. It did not matter how many times he was caught, he always went back to wreaking havoc on the streets of Torrance,