The best of men and paralysis

I saw a good movie named “The Best of Men” last night. Here is a quick synopsis from the BBC website:

Entertaining drama about the birth of the Paralympics in 1948. The remarkable Dr Guttmann comes to Stoke Mandeville Hospital and begins to transform the lives of his patients. They are paralysed soldiers, written off and facing death from neglect. Their big breakthrough comes when Guttmann introduces sport into their rehabilitation.

Wheelchair hockey (image taken from a bbc blog post)

In the movie, they portray the soldiers as people without any hope. As a result, they felt it would be better to rot in their beds and die.

Dr. Guttman realized that his biggest challenge wasn’t their physical recovery, it was their psychological, emotional, and spiritual recovery. If he could help restore hope and purpose in their life, they would overcome the fear of confronting society without legs to walk on.

The good doctor succeeded when he found ways to help them envision an independent life with purpose and hope which would supersede their physical paralysis.

Find purpose and hope in your life – you’ll be surprised what it will supersede.