A number of years ago, I wrote an article on a single mother who had started her own business. She had run away from her birth family, which operated an underground casino, while still in elementary school, and spent the next several years drifting and working part-time jobs. At 21, she had married a man who operated a food stall. The man turned out to be a gambler who, before agreeing to their divorce, compelled her to assume responsibility for NT$7 million of his debts.

When she told me about her background, I couldn’t help but weep with her.

Following her divorce, she cared for her three children while also operating a noodle stand, often selling out her noodles only to see an entire day’s income taken away by the debt collectors. She spent more than a decade selling noodles for 20 hours a day before finally paying off her ex-husband’s debts. She then opened her own restaurant, where she prospered and also earned accolades from the local government for her efforts to employ other single mothers.

For this issue, we interviewed Joshua Xu, a young doctor who saw a bright future derailed by a severe spinal trauma that will likely leave him dependent on a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Though Xu’s tale left me teary-eyed as well, he complained very little during our nearly three-hour interview. Instead, he enumerated his many blessings and resources. Even more amazingly, his positive attitude has helped him to stand again!

For the last year and more, many of us have been feeling the stress of rising prices and the extended economic downturn. It’s not surprising then that a 2012 survey by the Mental Health Foundation showed that Taiwan’s overall mental health index had fallen to 81.6 on a 100-point scale. While still in the normal range, this figure was significantly lower than 2010’s score of 83. Perhaps more worrisome is that more than half of the survey’s respondents indicated that they were not hopeful about the future.

The survey also inventoried the “mental toughness” of its respondents for the first time, concluding that nearly 3 million of our citizens lack it. In other words, many of us are at high risk of becoming overwhelmed if we find ourselves in the midst of severe and intractable adversity.

That makes stories of how individuals such as Dr. Joshua Xu, author Ku­ling, and businessman Day Sheng-tong coped with major misfortunes especially significant.

Xu found in prayer the means to understand his challenges. Ku­ling learned humility from Nature. Day discovered a new business opportunity on his long “sabbatical.”

Mental health experts’ prescriptions for better psychological health typically include a number of basics that are feasible for most of us: deep breathing, the arts, meditation, keeping a diary, exercise, and time outdoors. As our island finds its way through this difficult and transformative period, it is important that we be able to listen and reflect.

Given the state of the world, it’s no surprise that the recent filmic incarnation of Victor Hugo’s nineteenth-century novel Les Misérables has been well received the world over. Though shot as a musical, it feels more like an inspirational movie.

In the story, protagonist Jean Val­jean protests the injustice of his prison sentence for stealing bread to give to a starving child. Val­jean tells the judge that the latter has no idea what it’s like to be without a job, that he’s walked as much as 20 miles in a day in search of work, but that there simply isn’t any to be had, nor any food. The judge is unmoved.

Released from prison a decade later, Val­jean receives a timely helping hand from a bishop, whose words make him into a new man. Though sometimes a bit overwrought, the film deftly depicts a society whose two classes are riven beyond hope of reconciliation.

In this Year of the Snake, we would do well to adopt some of the gentleness, dynamism, and resilience we associate with that zodiacal sign.