Survival and Joy

A SURIVIAL ACCOUNT

 

My family survived the Nazi Holocaust by fleeing their homeland of Vienna, Austria and starting a new life in La Paz, Bolivia. I was born in La Paz, which is the Spanish word for "peace," but my life seemed more like an endurance test of meeting one adversity after another. At first I reacted to traumatic events like a victim, but later in life I caught on and started to realize that at the center of each challenge was a special gift that gave me a greater sense of completeness and inner wealth. I slowly learned to understand how the paradoxical Chinese term "wei ji" could simultaneously mean both challenge and opportunity.

I was born in 1954, the same year that the Salk polio vaccine began to eradicate the dreaded childhood disease. But the vaccine was not available in La Paz in time for me. I contracted polio when I was 8 months old.

Fear of contagiousness caused my parents to desert me…

To paraphrase Ella Fitzgerald, it is by facing our difficulties that we become greater. Learning to respond to adversity with love and courage has empowered me to live a balanced, fulfilling life and to finally be graced with the inner gift of peace. That I was able to survive for so long is even amazing to me. One of the leaders I have admired greatly is Sir Ernest Shackleton, who once stated, "By endurance we conquer."

The Journey of a Late Bloomer
-- by Gloria R. Nash

 

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