As a writer,
I’ve observed
that what a reader focuses on
says a lot about her as a person.
What Angelina Jolie*
focuses on,
while talking about Unbroken,
the story of Louie Zamperini,
says a lot about her.
“People often simplify things
by saying there are good people
and there are bad people.
Little kids hear it:
What a good person so- and so- is,
or what a troublemaker.
And I think the beauty of Louie is
that he’s someone
every single human being can relate to,
even those of us who have really felt
that we weren’t great people
— we were, if anything even,
bad people,
or not fit for society,
or not helpful to others.
His message is that
you can choose to rise above
and to redirect your life.
Someone who was as troubled
and as full of fire as he was
can choose to redirect that fire,
and it can be a great thing.”
You can redirect your fire also.
*December 2014
American Way