Article January 29, 2001 ISSUE

The quest to be a survivor

What it really takes isn't physical ... it's mental.

By Channing Walker

Survival spiritual from a mental attitude, a state of gratitude, an acknowledgment that there's something good to live for.

A hard rain had washed away my plans for the evening, so I was sitting in a hotel room, clicking the TV remote in search of nothing in particular, when I stumbled across a show profiling a gathering of survivors. Their numbers had dwindled to a handful, perhaps half a dozen. But their story was compelling, and I had the time to linger.