Circumstances ≠ Destiny

The story of Uncle Tom can teach us an important
lesson as we struggle with adversity throughout
our lives

In the year 1852, a book titled “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was published by the author Harriet Beecher Stowe. This book eventually became the second best selling book of it’s century after the Bible, and it is highly credited for helping to drive the American abolitionist cause of the 1850’s. In the book, the woes and disgust of slavery are revealed. The plot follows an African-American slave named Uncle Tom. Tom is born to a good, just master, but throughout the course of the book, he is eventually sold to a trader named Simon Legree. Legree is a cruel, greedy slave owner whose only goal is to break slaves into subjection with his interests. Tom is brutally beaten for helping other slaves and tortured for refusing to give into Legree’s atheistic agenda, and through it all, everyone around him denies the existence of and the hand of God in their situation. In the end, though, Tom is able to stay faithful and truthful to God and overcome his circumstances to make it to a better place. Although this story is fictional, it teaches a principle that rings true to all men, and that is this: your circumstances do not determine your destiny.

Abraham Lincoln was born and raised in a log cabin, and he freed a nation of slaves. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he went on to become the greatest basketball player ever. Nelson Mandela spent twenty-seven years in prison before he was elected president of South Africa and eventually became known as “the father of the nation.” Known for his quote “It is in your hands to make a difference,” Mandela along with so many others made the most of their circumstances. How did these individuals succeed after the most bitter failures? How did these people and so many others rise up out of terrible circumstances and change the world? These societal heroes along with so many others have shown humankind that our circumstances don’t define us. Your environment does not decide your potential. No, your potential for greatness is determined only by you.

If you are not currently a victim of terrible circumstances, you will be. Whether you like it or not, the unshakable truth is: life is hard. Adversity comes to every person in this world. At one point or another, everybody goes through trials and everybody hurts. There’s no way to avoid or escape this. You can’t just sail to an island that is free of woes and sadness. You are going to have to deal with hardship, and you cannot blame others for the outcome. 

Most people go to blame when faced with adversity, but blame will get you nowhere. Motivational speaker Jim Rohn put it this way: “You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.” In order to overcome hard circumstances and become great, you have to be different from “most people.” It’s all a matter of choice. You have to choose take responsibility for your life in order to overcome hardship. You have to realize that you have the power and the responsibility to create and shape your life. An old chinese proverb says: “The act of choosing where to go and what to do in life is an act of creation.” If people realized this, they would stop blaming their circumstances and their trials for the outcome of their lives. Your life is your creation. You can choose to let your circumstances overcome you or you can choose to overcome your circumstances and become better because of them. You choose. Grow or die. Happiness in life comes from overcoming. Perseverance is important because happiness is important. If you really desire to be happy, you will work until you are.

Last month, the major motion picture “Unbroken” was released into theaters. “Unbroken” tells the story of a man named Louis Zamperini. Zamperini grew up in Southern California as a victim of bullying. After his father taught him to box, he took a lot of pride in fighting back and got into a lot of trouble because of it. However, Zamperini found a new passion after joining his school track team. He trained and trained, ran and ran, and eventually, he developed so much talent that he qualified for the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. However, running also taught him a much more valuable lesson; a lesson of endurance that would prove valuable to the coming trials in his life.

In 1941, Zamperini enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps and was assigned as a bomb aimer on the bomber plane Super Man. Super Man was damaged in combat, however, and Zamperini was put on a different assignment on the bomber The Green Hornet to find a lost plane. While searching for the lost crew 850 miles south of Hawaii, the plane malfunctioned and crashed into the shark-infested ocean below. Zamperini was one of three men that survived the crash, and he was stranded with them in life rafts with hardly any food or water. After thirty-three days of starvation and seasickness, one of Zamperini’s companions died, leaving him still stranded with his one companion. 

Zamperini's life was tough, but he
chose to overcome his circumstances

Zamperini could have died. He could have easily given up; jumped in the water to be eaten by sharks. But he didn’t let his circumstances control him. He chose to endure and eventually overcome. After forty-seven days at sea, Zamperini and his companion landed on Japanese controlled land, but that would not be the end of their hardship. They were swiftly captured by the Japanese Navy, sent to separate prisoner of war camps, and brutally beaten and mistreated day after day. In Zamperini’s camp, one cruel prison guard would beat him and humiliate him day in and day out. On one occasion, Zamperini was given the punishment of holding a heavy wooden plank above his head while guards watched and told him that he would be shot if he dropped it. Nobody thought he could do it, but Zamperini still did not give in. He endured and overcame. He held that plank up for an unbelievable thirty-seven minutes before the cruel prison guard punched him in the stomach, forcing him to drop it. Zamperini was held in that camp until the end of the war, when he was finally able to go back home to his family.

Louis Zamperini went through so much hardship and despair for so long, but he didn’t let his circumstances break him. He chose to fight and overcome. He himself even said “I’d made it this far and refused to give up because all my life I had always finished the race.” So, fight. If you want a good life; a happy life; a fulfilling life, then fight. Overcome your trials. There is no hardship given to a person that they cannot overcome. The power is in you. You can choose to break or you can choose to stand unbroken. It’s not going to be easy and it’s not going to be quick. It might take weeks, months, even years to overcome adversity. You may even struggle your entire life, but there is an end. There is a light at the end of the tunnel for those who persevere; who push themselves beyond their limits. You’ve gotta push through, but with patience and endurance and sheer will, it will be worth it in the end if you choose for it to be. Zamperini went through more than most human beings could endure, but he fought until the end, never blaming anyone else for what happened to him, and he became better because of it. Zamperini’s message to the world as well as mine is this: “To persevere is important for everybody. Don’t give up. Don’t give in. There is always an answer to everything.”