I’ve just completed a book by Judith Rodin; “the Resilience Dividend: Being Strong in a World Where Things Go Wrong.” It was full of interesting accounts of all sorts of disasters-earthquakes in San Francisco, Katrina in New Orleans, and many other events.
Her bottom line seemed to be that if an event or preparation for one was addressed successfully, resilience can and did emerge. She stated a sense of optimism was part of such an achievement. I would add that hope may be another similar ingredient.
Personally, I have found that my faith in a loving God to be a necessary element as to my optimism and hope; and ultimately, resilience. Unfortunately, the book seemed to ignore how critical faith-based actions are, have been, and will be in addressing disasters-whether a Katrina or ones of a personal nature.
