In "The 33," thirty-three Chilean miners endure and survive being trapped in a collapsed mine for over two months. In "Bridge of Spies," an American lawyer stubbornly continues to invoke and use the Law ( and proves the value of a free country's legal system) to bring two Americans back from captivity.
In "The 33," no matter how dark and difficult things get for the thirty-three miners, they continue to respect and follow the three men they've chosen for leadership roles, men who respectively aggressively encourage them to live, provide practical know-how, and pray with them. In spite of physical battles, occasional emotional breakdowns, depression, tears, and anger, they stoically discipline themselves, drinking and eating small amounts of liquids and food carefully portioned out. Once the world discovers they're alive, experts from around the world come to their aid, and the whole world waits and prays with and for them. As the last miner notes before he leaves their small claustrophobic underground shelter in the capsule that will take him to the surface, life, and loved ones: "God was with us."
In "Bridge of Spies," the lawyer, William B. Donovan, is vilified by the American public for choosing to defend a Russian accused of espionage. But he notes "If we don't follow our own American law, our own rule that everyone deserves fair legal representation during a trial, how do we demonstrate that the American way of life is superior to that of tyrannical governments?" Able to judge a man by his actions and attitude rather than stereotyping him, he acknowledges to himself and to the world that the spy, Rudolf Abel, has been a "good soldier." Later he uses Abel in a trade to get back a downed American pilot and spy for the U.S., Francis Gary Powers, as well as a young student who got trapped in East Germany.
All of the men involved in these movies survive and triumph because of not only a "Don't Quit" attitude, but because of thankfulness. The miners could have chosen to give up and die, but they were thankful for the little food and drink that they had, and they used it wisely until they were discovered and received more nourishment, liquids sent down to them. Donovan, the lawyer, survives and triumphs because in his heart and soul he is thankful for the U.S. System of Fair Laws and Justice, and is thankful for its inherent goodness that allows him even to survive the cynicism and narrow range of beliefs of the C.I.A. agent assigned to work with him.
Above all else, these men are all grateful for the gift of life, their own, and the lives of the people around them. Respecting how precious this gift is, they are willing to fight on to preserve it, for those they love and for those who love them. In the throes of desperation, they clearly see that people, not things, are our greatest treasure. All of them are thankful for their families and friends; in Donovan's case, he cherishes the lives of the young pilot and the young student whom he has never met but whom he has sworn to himself that he will rescue.
When our lives are dark, desperate, traumatized; when we wonder if we'll ever have the strength to keep going, it is so important that we tell ourselves that we CAN keep going, that we should not quit, that our lives are precious, that there is so much in our lives to be thankful about. That God is always, always with us. That some principles are worth committing our lives to, even if the path of justice and integrity is long and hard.
If we are grateful for our lives -
If we are thankful for those whom we love and who love us -
If we are thankful to have principles and ideals to love and cherish -
Then we won't quit.
If we fall, we'll get up.
If we fail, we'll keep trying.
If we collapse in bed, we'll get out of bed.
We'll do the necessary drill
Take the necessary steps
Discipline ourselves
Have pity parties and then not pity ourselves but challenge ourselves.
We'll trust that God is with us. Every day. Everywhere.
And, in a way that perhaps only we're aware of,
We'll endure and
We'll triumph.