Since many sophomores at our school have been assigned Unbroken, we had a speaker at school today. Luke Zamperini spoke for his dad Louis, and the rest of the Zamperini family, to the sophomore class. They got an hour and a half of him in the gym, complete with a documentary video, a monologue about his father, and a question and answer at the end.
Kids were good. They applauded at the cutest times. They would ask him a question like “Do you have any children?” and they would applaud when he said yes. Weird. He said he was married to his wife for 34 years and they applauded and gave an “aaahhhh.” I know, right?
Luke Zamperini was in his early 60’s, had a nice demeanor, talked about Jesus a bit much, but, if you’ve read Unforgiven, it’s to be understood. And maybe he does this type of speaking all the time, but he came off as a regular guy, which is what I think people took from Louis. I think many people like the book so much just because they somehow feel they resonate with Louis–either as the misfit, the guy that overcame adversity, or the one who forgives. But, man, the dude overcame a little more adversity than most of us.
Jason Mun is a new dude on campus. He teaches English, coaches wrestling. I taught his sister years ago. She married someone who I think I taught, too (where is my pineapple bread, Will Kwan?). I guess he ran into Luke Zamperini, asked him to speak to our school, and made it happen. Just like that.
Sometimes that’s the way it works, people. Which is why you need to learn how to speak. If Jason did not know how to speak, I would have had to teach the last hour and a half of the day. THANKS, man.