Why Tales Can Inspire

Everyone faces challenges and crossroads in their lives, the choices we make when these moments occur can either impact our lives simply or be a major life altering experience. Tales of how other people have reached deep into themselves to overcome horrific events teach us to never give up and that we have more inner strength than we ever though we had. Stories of individuals that experience heroic or harrowing moments can uplift and inspire the reader.
  What can tales of harrowing and heroic moments impart to a reader, how can they impact a person’s life?   Sebastian Junger’s essay The Zero Moment Point (Junger) tells the harrowing tale of six men in a fight for their lives against pure forces of nature. The crew found themselves caught in a once in a lifetime storm with no way out. Sadly the crew did not survive and the readers are left to imagine what their last moments were like. The author was able to talk to men who had survived similar events and shared their experiences. For some men it was thoughts of their families that gave them strength, for others it was faith in god, and then for a few it was just shear unwillingness to give up.   The tales of survivals tell us how when all hope seems to be lost you can choose to let go or you can find a deeper source of will to live. This story and ones like it might give hope to someone that if faced with a similar situation they can find the same strength to live. I think that if I found inspiration in Junger’s tale to not give up and to find the will deep within live then I would be honoring the memory of the men and women who lost that fight.
    I personally can say how a story of heroic actions in the face of overwhelming odds changed my outlook on life.   I was feeling down about where my life was going and wanted to make excuses of why it could not change.   One night I watch a true life movie called Hotel Rwanda (Terry)and the impact it left on my life is still there 5 years later.   It is the story of how...