Hope Is Not As Good As Determination

WE CAN ILLUSTRATE the difference between determination and hope with the true story of the survivors of a plane crash in the Andes mountains. The plane was the Fairchild and right before the crash, the pilots radioed the wrong position in their mayday message. They were mistaken about where they were (that's why they crashed: they thought they were past the high mountains but they weren't, so they started their descent…right into a mountain).

Thirty-two people survived the crash. They were all wearing light, warm-weather clothes. At night the temperature dropped far below freezing. Their plane was open at one end (the tail section had come off in the crash). They assumed, of course, that the pilots transmitted their correct location, so they expected to be rescued.

They had a little transistor radio they listened to all the time, and they knew a search was in progress. They held onto their hope with understandable desperation.

Then one day, they heard the search had been called off. Many of them were crushed by the news, some weeping in despair. All hope was lost. But one man wasn't crushed. All along, most of the others were fixated on getting rescued, but Nando was determined to get back to civilization by his own efforts.

They didn't know where they were, or how far away civilization was, or in what direction civilization lay. They knew Chile was to the west, but the way was blocked by enormous mountains. They were at an elevation that was permanently snowbound and they were ill-clothed for an expedition in these conditions. The air was thin and it exhausted them to hike.

This story was told accurately in the movie, Alive. In one scene, right after they heard the news on the radio that the rescue was called off, Nando said, "We'd better go tell the others."

The person he was talking to said they can't do that. People will lose hope. Nando replied, "What's so great about hope?"

Hope had them lying around passively, waiting for someone to rescue them. Had they continued that, they would have died on the mountain. But Nando had no passive hope. He was determined to make it back to civilization. He and a friend, Canessa, headed out, driven mainly by Nando's love for his father. Nando knew how much his father was suffering. Nando's mother and sister were killed by the plane crash and Nando knew his father would need him. This drove him on, spurred his determination, made him impatient. He walked, not so much to save himself as to save his dad.

The hike over endless mountains in thin air, freezing in inadequate clothing, was pushing these young men to their limits. At one point, Canessa said, "I can't go on."

Nando replied, "You must go on."

They reached civilization seventy days after the Fairchild crashed. During the ordeal, Nando lost fifty pounds, and he was a slim athlete to begin with.

Later in his life, Nando said, "When I was at the top of an 18,000-foot peak with Roberto Canessa, looking at the vast scenery of snowy peaks surrounding us, we knew we were going to die. There was absolutely no way out. We then decided how we would die: We would walk towards the sun and the west."

That's determination. Hope is passive and relies on people and forces outside of yourself. Determination is active and self-propelled. Determination is different from hope. It might not be as pretty or pleasant as hope sometimes. But it is more effective.

Having said that, I would like to urge you to shift your own feelings about terrorism away from hope and toward determination. How? By being less passive and relying less on outside forces and more active and self-propelled. If you don't know where to start, start here.


Read the story here:

Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home (by Nando himself)

Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read


Watch the movie: Alive