altered experiences

woke up with a question on my mind today and thought i might throw it out there for the world to think about.

what is it that motivates people to "keep on going" through difficult and often tragic situations?

the story of the bronze medal winning Canadian skater continuing to compete, and from what i understand finishing better than expected, just days after her mother passed away has made me think through how i would handle such an experience.

another great example sits closer to home. this past weekend we welcomed back one of our band members who had been out for the last six months caring for his dying mother. (i like to call him bulletproof so i'll refer to him as BP). with his mother having passed on he decided it was time to get back in the swing of things. what i wasn't aware of was the fact that he was going through the exact same thing with his father. given only days left to live BP still made the decision to be a part of the band this weekend. on sunday morning he got word that his father had passed on - just before the last service - and with tears in his eyes he pushed forward and gave everything he had. he could have easily asked for relief or at least brought to light what was going on - but he choose instead to accomplish what was in front of him. i won't speculate here why i think he did that but i will say that his language afterward was that of someone who saw a bigger picture in all of it.

i'm interested - have any of you pushed through tragedy similar to these stories?