Strength of mind, Perseverance of Spirit, Character...

So many people in my circle in Paris trashed John McCain without giving him a second thought, but I read his book "Faith of my Fathers", and this was another passage that struck me as important to understanding what he went through in Vietnam.

Son of Admiral John McCain, he was a fighter pilot in the US Navy, and was shot down over Hanoi and imprisoned for 5 years.

To summarise this excerpt, he is shot down, breaks both arms, a leg and some ribs, falls into a lake, and is then kicked and stabbed repeatedly with bayonets in the ankle and groin, and has his shoulder broken...

...and unfortunately for him that's only the start of a hellish five years in the Hanoi Hilton...




To give some context, some reason for posting this. It is another of these passages I've picked out because it highlights to me the importance of strength of character, and shows how, old men who you might disagree with philosophically, often have had the hardest time of things in their lives.

John McCain has certainly been through a lot in his life, and I doubt I could survive the same kind of trials, as, even in my darkest moments, I've never been in this much mortal danger. It makes me think anyway. There are real heros out there...