“This is what I learned from those years in the prison camp, where all those constraints just were oppressive. You must never ever ever confuse, on the one hand, the need for absolute, unwavering faith that you can prevail despite those constraints with, on the other hand, the need for the discipline to begin by confronting the brutal facts, whatever they are. We’re not getting out of here by Christmas.”

I saw this last week and meant to post it sooner: Admiral Jim Stockdale was a POW for seven years in Vietnam, and this is what he learned about faith and optimism.