The Secret of Survival
Last week had been an exciting week for basketball fans. Hoopheads watched one of the gutsiest, dramatic, and most entertaining first-round playoff series between the Phoenix Suns and L.A. Lakers. The Lakers had the upper hand, winning 3-1 in the best-of-seven series, but the Suns persisted and tied the series 3-3 before finishing up Kobe Bryant and co. in Game 7.
Phoenix fired up fans and stunned skeptics after the Classic-worthy Game 6. How come the Suns, outsized and undermanned, facing elimination on the road, pull together such an effort and come out victorious?
Definitely there is something admirable about that. And it’s not even about basketball.
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So what is it all about? The Japanese word gaman, which Nicholas Kristof used quite frequently in his book Thunder from the East: Portrait of a Rising Asia, seems to sums up best what I mean to say. Gaman signifies “persistence and endurance through hardships” – a prerequisite to survival.
We have seen gaman throughout the history of humanity. There is that spirit of survival, resilience, and fierce determination. It’s the spirit that drove many immigrants out of their poverty-stricken villages to pursue the American dream. Auschwitz survivors, Darfur refugees and the Chinese guy before the tank in Tiananmen Square certainly had it too.
Another wonder of survival is the power of cooperation. When it comes down to life or death, a species has better chances to prevail when they help one another. It’s heartening to see how many helping hands reach out after the tsunami that swept Aceh and other regions, after Hurricane Katrina drowned New Orleans.
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This year’s Phoenix Suns is a prime example of these qualities – determination and collaboration. Surely we could use more of those. No matter what adversities each of us is challenging right now, it gives us hope to know we all have this fire inside.
