The British boy William Ernest Henley contracted tuberculosis of the bone when he was just 12 years old.  He suffered from the disease until he was 25.  By then, it had progressed all the way to his foot.  13 years.

The doctors then told him that they would have to remove his most severely infected leg immediately, and that if he were to survive, they would need to remove the other one as well.

A strong willed person, he gave the doctors permission to remove just one leg, to the knee, but that he was keeping his other leg.

In 1875, at the age of 25 he wrote Invictus from his hospital bed, the perfect expression of his response to the challenges of life.

Invictus is Latin for “undefeated”.

Invictus

by William Earnest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud,
Under the bludgeoning of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Henley went on to live an active, productive life as a poet.  He kept his other leg.

While imprisoned on Robben Island Prison, where he was incarcerated for 27 years, Nelson Mandela (who later served as President of South Africa, and won the Nobel Peace Prize) recited the poem to himself and other prisoners as a way to bolster their spirits, and motivate them to press onward.  He felt empowered by the message of self mastery.

Life is necessarily filled with challenges.  And thank goodness.  How boring it would be otherwise.  But while we can’t control the cards that are dealt us, what we CAN control is how we react to those events.

Will they be events that give us strength?  Will they give us wisdom?  Will they teach us patience?  Perseverance? Will they give us empathy for others?

Much good can come from things that seem so bad.  Life’s greatest opportunities are often hidden in adversity.

But transforming life’s challenges into positive self-propellants takes self-mastery.  Regardless what life gives us, we must remember “I am the master of my fate.  I am the captain of my soul.”

Rusty