The human spirit is a metaphor to some and a reality for others. The human spirit is a combination of hope, will, perseverance, and strength. The human spirit can be one of the most powerful things in the world if used correctly and by the right people. A human spirit can be put through trial after hurdle after trial and, although scathed, it will persevere. The human spirit is very resilient, I can be broken but not easily.
Here is an example of one such story. Ildefonce Mungemanganga had been attacked, murderously beaten and left for dead. His attackers had tried to decapitate him, and they had very nearly succeeded. Instead of a neck, there was a gaping abyss, his lungs visible through the opening and his trachea severed. He was still able to breathe because his trachea was exposed through the hole between his head and his chest, allowing oxygen to ?ow into his lungs. However, even that would not have been enough to keep him alive had the machete penetrated a millimeter deeper: as it was, it had missed his two vital carotid arteries.
His face, too, was mutilated: the entire face smashed in. (White 1). This is one of the experiences in this vignette about the resilience of the human spirit. This whole vignette is about the Rwandan Genocide of April 1994 in which 800,000 people died for not being the same tribe as the population. The Tutsi (slaughtered people) and the Hutu have had ethnic competition and control disputes for as long as they have been around and the Hutu gained power in the rebellions in the 60’s. Once the Hutu gained power, as is common in these cases, the Tutsi were the minority and were discriminated against.
A group of Tutsi refugees attacked Northern Rwanda in an attempt to regain control of the territory. . plane crash ended up stranded at sea. “A lifetime of glory is worth a moment of pain. Louie thought: Let go” (Hillenbrand 29). That quote pretty much summarizes, in a different way, what has been said repeatedly throughout this article.
The fact that you can move on from things because they are temporary. The human spirit is stronger than anything I have ever seen or felt. It can feel such a varied amount of pain, goodness, love, betrayal, hurt, and disappointment that it is hard to fathom. It can incite change and reform in many different situations as we have seen throughout the different examples. Throughout this report many trials have been reported such as a young rebel turned hero stranded in the middle of an ocean, all the way to unnecessary rape and murder. All of these things can be overcome with perseverance and hope.
Hope is sometimes all that we need.
