Courage Under Fire

"On September 9, 1965, I flew at 500 knots right into a flak trap, at tree-top level, in a little A-4 airplane--the cockpit walls not even three feet apart--which I couldn't steer after it was on fire, its control system shot out.  After ejection I had about thirty seconds to make my last statement in freedom before I landed in the main street of a little village right ahead.  And so help me, I whispered to myself: 'five years down there, at least.  I'm leaving the world of technology and entering the world of Epictetus.'


"What Epictetus [told] his students was that there can be no such thing as being the 'victim' of another.  You can only be a 'victim' of yourself.  It's all how you discipline your mind."