Tragedy to Triumph: A WWII Veteran’s Final Lesson on Finding Meaning in Life’s Darkest Moments
How one veterans reframing of his personal helped me to see the opportunity I was missing.
A dying WWII veteran taught me how our thoughts shape our reality.
Everet Was Dying
Everet struggled for breath the first day I met him and every day after that until he died. Most pulmonary patients suffer from obstructive lung disease caused by smoking. However, Everet was not a smoker and suffered from a different process.
Everet had restrictive lung disease. Unlike the more common COPD (emphysema), where people struggle to expel air from thier lungs, Everet’s problem was that he could not pull air in. His lungs were not the big, bloated air sacs of emphysema; instead, he suffered from a different process that resulted in stiff, scared lungs that refused to inflate with air.
During his military service, Everet was surrounded by asbestos. This miracle fire retardant insulated everything in the engine room of the steam-powered destroyer he served on during the war. With the dangers of asbestos unknown, he lived with this material 24 hours a day and never used any respiratory protection.
