Not so Wordless Wednesday

I am reading a  book called “Good to Great” by Jim Collins for my MBA class and I came across this quote.  It has stuck with me now for quite a few weeks.  In the book, the author, Jim Collins, interviews a Vietnam War POW Admiral Jim Stockdale.  This is what the author says he took away from that interview:

“Life is unfair – sometimes to our advantage, sometimes to our disadvantage.  We will all experience disappointments and crushing events somewhere along the way, setbacks for which there is no “reason”, no one to blame.  It might be a disease, it might be an injury; it might be an accident; it might be losing a loved one; it might be getting swept away in a political shake-up; it might be getting shot down over Vietnam and thrown into a POW camp for eight years.  What separates people, Stockdale taught me, is not the presence or absence of difficulty, but how they deal with the inevitable difficulties of life.”

“The Stockdale Paradox: Retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of difficulties.  And at the same time, confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”