Survivor Stories highlights courage, grace and poise

Life isn’t always a smooth sail on calm seas with a gentle breeze at our back. A health scare. Difficult circumstances. Tragedy beyond our control.

How we respond to these situations, though, is where we learn and grow and mature. As they say, we can let the moment define us, or we can define the moment.

In the Tuesday, Oct. 8, issue of the Southeast Missourian, we included a series of stories focused on people who defined their moment of hardship. These “Survivor Stories” chronicle men and women who overcame their adversity with poise and grace.

Now, they are helping others learn from their experiences.

Among the survivors:

• As a youngster, Ben Porter bounced around from relative to relative, with violence never far away. A pastor, Porter knows about never giving up.

• Jessica Kooyer fought breast cancer, relying on her faith and believing that she could handle whatever came her way.

• Tim and Tammy Tarrillion have faced a number of horrible incidents — brain aneurysms, the loss of a son, cancer. Through it all, they have found strength in each other.

These and other tales of courage are part of the series. We encourage you to read them all at www.semissourian.com.

Listen to their stories in person Tuesday, Oct. 29. The TED Talk-style event will begin at 5:30 p.m. at Scout Hall, 420 Broadway in Cape Girardeau, and is presented by Gateway Church and Southeast Missouri Food Bank. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/survivor-stories-tickets-1014912770417.

For those who can't join us in person, the event will be livestreamed on the Southeast Missourian Facebook page. We appreciate all the individuals who have shared their story. May they bring hope to others facing their own challenges.