Determination
By: Ella Lavacchi
Determination: (n.) firmness of purpose
Amy Purdy & Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg
Amy Purdy and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg are alike in several ways, but they also differ.
The girls both had a passion for one specific thing. Although those two things were extremely different, they were both very important to these girls. For Amy, it was snowboarding. For Nadja, it was playing the violin. The two girls both went through different experiences of adversity, but they had both lost the thing they loved the most. The girls both had to share the quality of determination to gain their passion back. Another difference is the way that the girls were determined. Amy motivated herself, but Nadja had to be motivated by her close friend. An additional similarity between the girls is that they both persevered in the end and got their passions back.
Bethany Hamilton
Bethany Hamilton had a problem because of the adversity that she had to go through. On October 31, of 2003, Bethany had her arm bitten off by a shark. Having a passion for surfing, her loosing an arm was a problem because surfing requires two arms to be able to push the surfer's body up to stand. As soon as Bethany was out of the hospital after her accident, she was extremely determined to surf again, telling her mom that her doctor said she could get back into the water once her stitches were out. This led to Bethany training every single day that she could after her stitches were removed. She started becoming highly skilled at surfing with one arm, and her dad even created different exercises for her as a solution to become stronger. The main difficulty was staying strong mentally. Although Bethany was an exceptionally strong person in general, the hardship that she had to go through got to her once in a while. The good thing was that she had plenty of amazing people supporting her such as her family, friends, and people from church to help solve her dilemma. The determination of not only Bethany, but the others around her that helped get her to where she is today. Now, Bethany is a professional surfer, loving wife, and expecting mother.
Amy Purdy
This picture shows Amy after she was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis. She has her snowboard with her, and also, her prosthetic legs.
Bethany Hamilton
This picture shows Bethany after she lost her arm to a shark. She has her surf board with her, showing that she still surfs.
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg
This picture shows Nadja after she had quit the violin. She holds her violin, showing that she had persevered through her hardship, and still plays.
Kristen Jane Anderson
Kristen Jane Anderson started doubting her life when she was a teenager. Her life was as to close to perfect as it could ever be, but she just didn't feel like she had a purpose on Earth. Kristen was seventeen years old when she attempted suicide. Right after her attempt, she lost both of her legs because of the 33 freight cars that ran her over at 55 miles per hour. As soon as she realized that she had lost her legs, she was determined to walk again. After she was in and out of several hospitals, Kristen was diagnosed with depression and put on anti-depressant medications. Kristen was not happy with this and was adamant to get off of her medications as soon as possible. Not long after, she started going to therapy and church. Once she had started attending church, she felt that there was a purpose for her life. In the end, Kristen used the determination that she had to turn her life from a negative to a positive. Now, she has a family of three, her own ministry, and a published book called Life in Spite of Me.
Life In Spite of Me - Kristen Jane Anderson
Lily Jungmann
When Jessica Jungmann was pregnant with her baby Lily, the doctors told her that Lily would be still-born. When it came to the day she was delivered, she was not in fact still-born, but, she was born with hydrocephalus. This is a build up of liquid on the brain which causes brain damage. For Lily, the liquid build up was located on the left side of her brain, which effects the right side of her body. This caused her to have brain surgery at one day old. The doctors told Lily's parents that she would never be able to walk or speak properly for the rest of her life. Once Lily got older, she had to go through therapy and wear a leg brace which was influenced by her condition. This impacted her because it led to her understanding what her condition was about. As a result, she was determined to be normal and not have to wear her brace anymore. She had a fire in her to persevere through the condition she was born with. She is now an ambitious young girl who is a horse back rider, on a swim team, and the spunky ten year old who runs around the backyard with her cousins on Easter.
2008
Lily with her cousins and grandparents on a Disney Cruise.
2015
Lily with her parents, brother, cousins, and aunt and uncle on Easter.
2007
Lily and her cousin at their grandparents lake house.
Helmuth Guddat Hubener
Helmuth Guddat Hubener has many characteristics. Most importantly, he was determined. When Helmuth was a young boy, he despised the Nazi's, even though he was a German. For example, Helmuth got his friends together and they created leaflets about what the Nazi's were truly doing, to give out to the German people. He did this because he was adamant about the Germans knowing the truth about their own country, which was one thing the Nazi's did not deliver. Another characteristic that Helmuth had was strength. When Helmuth was caught by the Gestapo and convicted of treason, he promised his friends who he had worked with to not give out their names. For instance, Helmuth took several beatings instead of giving the Gestapo the names of his close friends. Although Helmuth was determined to make a dramatic change and deliver the truth, he was unfortunately sentenced to death on October 27, 1942.
Works Cited
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. The Boy Who Dared. New York: Scholastic, 2008. Print.