This is a nice story. An American airman is shot down in 1943 over a remote Pacific island. The natives rescue him, hide him from the Japanese and nurse him back to health. He eventually returns home, marries and starts a family and career. Years later he returns to the island and renews his relationship with the natives. Back in the USA, he sets up a charity to help them. Over the course of many years he helps the natives to build a school, library, clinic, etc. The natives’ lives improve, and he gains a sense of purpose and accomplishment, to such an extent that he is grateful for the misfortune that initially brought him to the island.
5 thoughts on “Making the Best of a Bad Situation”
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That’s pretty much of a three-hanky weeper, right down to the coda about the Japanese pilot who deliberately spared him and subsequently survived the war and lived to a great age.
Jay:…and to the magical susu, “mother’s milk’.
I said it was a nice story. That doesn’t mean it’s a phony story.
Remember that there’s selection bias. The American fliers who were shot in their parachutes or didn’t escape the Japanese on the ground or died from malaria, weren’t available later to be interviewed.
To eliminate confusion, I meant “three-hanky weeper” to be a compliment.
Thanks. I misunderstood you.