Louis Zamperini and Opportunity:
How he turned his life’s biggest desirable disadvantage into a victory that would be a shining light for thousands, and a peace he had never known before.
By Ethan Stromquist | Business Marketing Major, Bethel University
A middle-aged Louis Zamperini embraces the men who once brought living hell upon him on a daily basis. On a visit to Japan in a brisk October in 1950, Zamperini returned to the country where he was beaten, starved, and humiliated roughly six years prior (Zamperini, 1956). He had come back to the island of Japan to face his former captors. To forgive them. And to set himself free once and for all.
Zamperini looks at the faces he once associated with hatred and pain, but he feels none. Instead, as he offers his hand to each one, he experiences a happiness he had never felt before. He sees and hears the emotion in the men, all with the lack of the bitter taste of recrimination that once so lingered in his heart. They were his brothers now. (Zamperini, 1956)
Many turning points, desirable disadvantages, and his background led up to the triumphant success of Zamperini’s forgiveness of his tormentors and his life in Christ. These Gladwellian concepts can explain how he turned his life’s biggest desirable disadvantage into a victory that would be a shining light for many others, and a peace he had never known before.
Zamperini’s forgiveness saved him from the torture that was his hate for the men who so mercilessly treated him during his time as a prisoner of war in many Japanese prison camps during World War Two. For almost five years he dreamt over and over again of killing the men who beat and humiliated him on a daily basis. Now, he experiences a peace he had never felt before in his life and shines as a light, changing the lives of many others for the better. Even his former enemies.
Many turning points, desirable disadvantages, and his background led up to the triumphant success of Zamperini’s forgiveness of his tormentors and his life in Christ. These Gladwellian concepts can explain how he turned his life’s biggest desirable disadvantage into a victory that would be a shining light for many others, and a peace he had never known before.
In his book, Outliers: The Story of Success, author Malcolm Gladwell describes the concept of a “turning point”, a moment that acts as a turning point that changes a person’s life direction. An example in Outliers was Chris Langen choosing to go to Reed College over the University of Chicago, which, through a chain of events and small mistakes, landed him with no degree, and unable to fully utilize his intelligence (Gladwell, 2008). Zamperini’s life story and turning points consisted of small events as well. Zamperini becoming an Olympic athlete at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany defines the beginning of his miraculous journey (Zamperini, 1956). Zamperini spent countless hours putting in meaningful work, along with the support from his brother, going from juvenile delinquent in the neighborhoods of Torrance, California (Zamperini, 1956) to high school track star, breaking the 18 year world record for the interscholastic Mile with a whopping time of 4:21.2 (Zamperini, 1956). This eventually lead him to the Olympics where he made finals and even met Adolf Hitler (Andrews, 2014).
Then World War Two happened. The world and Zamperini’s prestigious running career were flipped upside down. He enlisted in the air force on a base on Oahu, Hawaii, and flew as a B-24 bombardier (Andrews, 2014). Then, in an event that changed his life forever, Zamperini’s plane crashed during a search and rescue mission. With wreckage everywhere and bodies floating all around, Zamperini and two other crew members survive and spend 47 miserable days floating at sea until they were captured by Japanese soldiers, which was his next turning point (Andrews, 2014). Because he was captured by the Japanese, he was subject to torture from the Japanese officers, specifically from a man named Mutsuhiro Watanabe (Hillenbrand, 2010). Beatings by fists and clubs endured daily. Disease. Starvation. All of these occurred over the two years Zamperini was a POW in Japan. (Andrews, 2014) What was done to Zamperini formed a burning passion of hatred in him that became his obsession that continued after the war, only to get worse.
Zamperini’s experience as a prisoner of war connects to Gladwell’s idea of a turning point because without this experience, what would come later on, and his ultimate success, couldn’t have happened without those experiences.
Zamperini’s nightmares began, and so did the alcoholism. Every night he dreamt about strangling Watanabe (Meroney, 2014). He woke up in violent sweats, sometimes to find that he had really been attacking his pregnant wife in his sleep (Hillenbrand, 2010). Then Billy Graham came to his town in September of 1949. Zamperini heard the words of Graham which helped lead him to Christ. In a struggle over himself until finally giving in, Zamperini accepted Christ and forgave his former captors. That night he slept without nightmares for the first time in over four years (Hillenbrand, 2010). Soon after, Zamperini took a trip to Japan to face the men who abused him, seeing them face to face, showing them his forgiveness and sharing the message of Christ with them (Zamperini, 1956). All of these moments in Zamperini’s life lead up to his success of Jesus Christ and being a shining light to many who struggle with forgiveness can be explained by the Gladwellian idea of a turning point and, like Chris Langen, how even the smallest decisions or circumstances can change the outcome of your life forever.
Zamperini’s story couldn’t have happened if where he came from looked any different. In Gladwell’s book, David and Goliath, he writes about how having the right background can make or break your success. He illustrates this with Vivek Ranadive, a basketball coach who coached a team of underdog players. Ranadive came from a background where he’d never played basketball before, giving him the mindset willing to try unusual strategies without caring if they were normal in the basketball world. If he had had experience as a basketball coach long before coaching this team, he would have most likely used the same strategies and plays that every other team uses instead. And with a team of players who are very inexperienced, this wouldn’t have gone well at all. (Gladwell, 2013).
Zamperini had two different backgrounds in his life that led him to his success. He first came from a background of determination and defiance living in a neighborhood in Torrance, CA where he would spend his days stealing, fighting, damaging property, and challenging everyone he knew. Even the cops. He was notorious (Zamperini, 1956). This was the kind of determination that he needed later on in life. Zamperini started running track, but never lost his spirit of energy and defiance. Instead, he channeled it into his running career and eventually became the youngest distance runner ever on an Olympic team (Andrews, 2014). He defied everyone who thought he never could, including himself.
Zamperini’s background of a rough childhood was his driving force to his background Olympic stardom, his second crucial background. As a prisoner of war in the camp of Omori in Japan, Zamperinis’ Olympic background made him the number one target of Watanabe(nicknamed “The Bird”), the most vicious prison camp guard in Japan (Hillenbrand, 2010).
“From the moment that Watanabe locked eyes with Louis Zamperini, an officer, a famous Olympian, and a man for whom defiance was second nature, no man obsessed him more” (Hillenbrand, 2010, p. 237–238).
Zamperini’ quickly became a target of Watanabe, even beyond the abuse he already gave out to the prisoners. Watanabe searched out and hunted Zamperini every day, accusing him of commiting infractions he didn’t do, and beating him with anything he could find. Fists, clubs, belts, anything Watanabe had that could physically damage found its way to Zamperini. Zamperini woke every morning thinking of where Watanabe was and how he could avoid him. But it failed every time. Zamperini tried to preserve himself, Watanabe only brought down his crazed fist harder (Hillenbrand, 2010).
One time, out of sinister amusement, Watanabe ordered Zamperini to stand and hold a thick, six foot long, wooden beam over his head. If he lowered the beam, he would face punishment. Weak from dysentery and other conditions caused by the camp, Zamperini stood for 37 minutes holding the beam until Watanabe struck him, knocking him unconscious (Hillenbrand, 2010).
According to Gladwell, our lives are filled with moments that define and set us on a course that couldn’t happen without them. Zamperini’s story couldn’t have happened if he weren’t an olympic athlete, and molded by a past of determination and defiance. He never would have faced such a wrath as a prisoner of war if these weren’t a part of his past. His background lead him to his pain, which then lead him to forgiveness.
A desirable disadvantaged is a disadvantage that turns out to be an advantage, and sometimes even the reason for someone’s success. In David and Goliath, Gladwell gives the example of a man named David Boies who’s desirable disadvantage was his dyslexia. Because he had such a hard time reading, he developed other skills to compensate which made him successful in his career and life. It may seem unintuitive to think of something like dyslexia to give someone an advantage in life, but in Boies’ case, he would never have gotten where he did without it because of what he became out of it(Gladwell, 2013).
Another example of this by Gladwell would be the story of Joe Flom, a lawyer in the mid 20th century who was discriminated against by bigger white-shoe law firms for being Jewish. In spite of this, he began to specialize his practice in hostile takeovers, a practice that the white-shoe firms wouldn’t touch. Pretty soon, hostile takeovers began to take off and became a more successful practice than the original firms were doing. In the end, Flom’s desirable disadvantage was that he was Jewish. Originally it meant discrimination for him, but it then turned into the very reason behind why he became so successful in his career (Gladwell, 2008).
Beatings and torture might seem like a major disadvantage to anyone, but to Zamperini, it was an advantage in that it taught him forgiveness he’d never felt before and brought him to a life in Christ. He later shared this same life in Christ with the very men who wronged him and became a shining example for many others who heard his story.
Louis Zamperini had one of the biggest and unforeseen desirable disadvantages of all: his pain from abuse.
Zamperini went through countless beatings, torture, and amounts of abuse to entangle a deep wound in his heart that stuck with him for years after it was over. But that was what led him to Christ, gave him the opportunity to forgive his tormentors, and share the message of Jesus with them (Zamperini, 1956). Not only was Zamperini’s success his accepting of Jesus, but that he was able to forgive the men who wronged him, giving him a peace he never knew before. Even before the abuse. He needed to go through his pain first to truly understand forgiveness (Duff & Mikoski, 2013). Beatings and torture might seem like a major disadvantage to anyone, but to Zamperini, it was an advantage in that it taught him forgiveness he’d never felt before and brought him to a life in Christ. He later shared this same life in Christ with the very men who wronged him and became a shining example for many others who heard his story (Zamperini, 1956).
The mixture of Louis’ Olympic background, many turning points, and desirable disadvantage of pain all brought him to success in Christ and forgiveness. He didn’t just come to Christ like most and casually understand it. His experiences made him know it. He needed to forgive to survive. His background and pain brought him to a pinnacle that meant he needed to change his life. Unsurprisingly, Zamperini’s story has touched the lives of many in life changing ways, even today. You might even say this is his true success.
Zamperini receives letters from many hurting people with many different stories who have been impacted by his. They all involve pain, and most importantly, forgiveness. One of them is about a girl who hated another girl for two years straight. After hearing Zamperini’s story, she finally decided to ask for forgiveness. They are best friends now (Meroney, 2014).
It’s the stories like these that show the true impact of Zamperini’s story and success. Zamperini tells people, “If you hate somebody, it’s like a boomerang that misses its target and comes back and hits you on the head” (Meroney, 2014).
Works Cited
Andrews, E. (Dec 17, 2014). 8 Things You May Not Know About Louis Zamperini. History. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-notknow-about-louis-zamperini
Duff, N. J., Mikoski, G.S. (2013, Jan). On the complexities of forgiveness. Theology Today, 69(4), 381–384.
Gladwell, Malcolm. (2013). David and Goliath. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company.
Gladwell, Malcolm. (2008). Outliers. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company.
Hillenbrand, Laura. (2010). Unbroken: A world war ii story of survival, resilience, and redemption. New York :Random House.
Meroney, J. (2014, Nov 11). ‘World war ii isn’t over’: Talking to unbroken veteran louis zamperini. The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/11/world-war-ii-isnt-over-talking-to-unbroken-veteran-louis-zamperini/382616/
Zamperini, Louis. (1956). Devil At My Heels. New York: E. P. Dutton & amp; Company.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ethan Stromquist
Ethan Stromquist, a freshman at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minn., seeks a degree in Business Marketing to help him do business-ey things in the real world. Stromquist enjoys snapping photos from tall places in the city and wishing he was in the ‘90s.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED
- Always name your dogs. You won’t care about them unless you do.
- If you don’t think you have homework from Scott Winter, you have homework from Scott Winter.
- Forgiveness will set you free. Remember that the next time you are treated inhumanely as a prisoner of war. Hate will tie you down more than imprisonment.
- A mix of hard work and opportunity is the recipe for success. It’s rarely just one or the other. So take your opportunities and work hard with them.
- Goliath was actually really stupid to try and take on David. Clumsy giants with spears are no match for skilled slingers in an open battle.
- Billy Beane changed the world of baseball forever by flipping team structure upside down. He didn’t have the money to do it the old-fashioned way, so he put together a strategic team of hand-me-down players and took the baseball world by storm.
- Having a good mix of analytical intelligence and practical intelligence will get you far in life.
- According to Barry Shwartz, having choices is great, but sometimes they paralyze you rather than liberate you.
- According to Malcolm Gladwell, the reasons for your demise can be the very reasons for success. This is shown through basketball coach Vivek Ranadive, whose inexperience let him try strategies that were unconventional and won with them.
- Sometimes in life, you only need to be “good enough” to be successful and anything more than that won’t be much more beneficial. An example of this would be a two good basketball players who are 6' 2" and 6' 8" and height not making a difference in performance. I hope this paper was good enough.
