“I never lost faith in the end of the story… I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life.” James Stockdale, former Navy pilot who was shot down over enemy territory during the Vietnam War, said this in his interview with Jim Collins decades later. His essay Courage Under Fire describes his firsthand experiences in the infamous North Vietnamese prison camp "Hanoi Hilton." For seven and a half years, he was in a concrete cell, malnourished, and under severe physical and mental strain. He spent long periods of time in solitary confinement. This was meant to break him and to turn him into propaganda. The common torture implemented by the North Vietnamese prison guards was referred to as "ropes." This was a technique where hands were bound behind their backs and the prisoners were lifted up and backwards so that the shoulders and chest were under extreme pressure. Often this led to dislocation. Many prisoners received this abuse multiple times before their release. Stockdale himself was tortured more than twenty times.
Even with several broken bones from his plane crash and the beating that he took after he landed with his parachute, his resolve stayed strong. The crude surgery on his leg left him on crutches for a few months and the improper healing gave him a limp that lasted his entire life. The conditions that he lived under made him face the most brutal facts of his existence in the prison, but he never lost faith that ultimately he would prevail. Others imprisoned with him put their hope in false optimism that went against their reality, such as being out of prison by Christmas. This belief was based on nothing and often broke them when Christmas came and went. Stockdale's courage came from within. His embrace of the situation was not sorrow, but acceptance of his existence and a refusal of fantasy.
Stockdale lived by the teachings of the second-century Stoic teacher Epictetus. In The Enchiridion it is written: "Lameness is an impediment to the leg, but not to the Will; and say this to yourself with regard to everything that happens. For you will find such things to be an impediment to something else, but not truly to yourself.” This quote had meaning, especially after Stockdale had his own limp. The Enchiridion centers on the dichotomy of control. This is the principle that he had control over his own actions and not outside events. He could not control his punishments at the hands of his enemy, but he could control his response to them. The leg was broken. His Will was not.
The American Fighting Man’s Code of Conduct, commissioned by Dwight Eisenhower in 1955, set the standard for prisoners of war. James Stockdale knew the code and even under extreme pain, he conducted himself as an officer of the U.S. military. He was the senior officer in the camp, so he took command. He would lead. This is a role he took seriously, but it required secrecy from the guards. Air Force Captain Carlyle “Smitty” Harris introduced a tap code at the Hanoi Hilton and Stockdale used it to communicate his orders. These orders often told them to resist propaganda and to refuse specific demands. Early release was offered if they repented and met North Vietnam's terms. The order was tapped to not comply. This created a simple, effective community of shared resistance.
Stockdale is not the first man to outlast an enemy by faith and lead people who were trapped with him. When David was exiled into the wilderness, he lived in caves and traveled to stay ahead of the pursuit of his enemies. In one instance in the cave of Adullam in Judah, he was joined by his family and about 400 distressed, indebted, and bitter men. This was his first outlaw band of men, and the beginning of his leadership. On the move, he put his faith in God to grant him protection. His confidence in God gave him the calm to outlast Saul. Even when David was captured by the Philistines, he turned to God as written in Psalm 56:3: “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” David, as well as James Stockdale, lived with fear but still chose courage to face their hardships.
One does not need to be in a prison to leverage the tools that the Stoics outline, nor does one need to live in a cave to find faith in God. Those are extreme situations. Most of us will never see a cell or a cave. The same choice still shows up in ordinary trouble, and I learned a small version of it before I came to understand it. Embracing difficulties as a daily practice also has some practical psychology behind it. I grew up in Generation X, when children were expected to leave the house unsupervised. If problems came up, we were forced to figure it out. One memory, which is still clear to me even today, is when my brother fell and hit his head. This caused a cut with severe bleeding and required stitches. Not only did I have to comfort him while he screamed, but I had to get help. Enduring this kind of pressure and even minor difficulties in life can lead to resistance to stress when larger problems eventually arise. Mark Seery from the University at Buffalo writes, “Specifically, having experienced difficulties in life can leave people better able to cope when facing subsequent stress.”
There are many ways to find hope in times of difficulty. One is to put your faith in God, like David did. Or one could find inner strength by controlling how you respond, like James Stockdale. They both found a community that was going through the same hardship, and that too can provide courage. Having the belief that things will work out can accomplish amazing results, even with severe pain and mental anguish. Knowing all this allows us to forge on.
Musonius
References:
James B. Stockdale, Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus’s Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior (Hoover Institution Press, 1993)
Jim Collins, Good to Great (HarperBusiness, 2001), the Stockdale Paradox
Epictetus, Enchiridion
The U.S. Fighting Man’s Code of Conduct (Executive Order 10631, 1955)
Bible, ESV, 1 Samuel 22 and Psalm 56:3
Mark D. Seery, E. Alison Holman, and Roxane Cohen Silver, "Whatever Does Not Kill Us: Cumulative Lifetime Adversity, Vulnerability, and Resilience," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 99 (2010). The quote is from Seery’s later University at Buffalo summary of that research.