Have you ever thought that life has no meaning? How many times have you given too much importance to superfluous issues? We will reflect a little on these questions through the case of Irene Villa.
Who is Irene Villa?
Irene Villa was the victim of an ETA terrorist attack, on October 17, 1991, carried out in Madrid when she was only 12 years old and in it the little girl lost both legs and fingers of one hand. A bomb exploded a few blocks after her mother (also a victim of the attack) started her car. However, the most remarkable thing about Irene’s life was not her unfortunate deed, but what she has done after her. Well, she has achieved absolutely all the goals that she has set for herself in her life, she has completed 3 university degrees, including psychology. This happily married, Irene and her husband are parents of three children: Carlos, who was born on July 7, 2012; Pablo born on April 21, 2015 and the third son, Eric Adriano, on August 31, 2016.
” Love has always been the key to everything, in fact in that attack when my mother told me you have no legs, but you have love, I said: my life begins here.”
She does not like to be classified as a victim
Irene is dedicated to giving motivational lectures, in addition to being an outstanding Paralympic skier. In them, she clarifies that from the beginning she refuses to be a victim, she understands that the attack was a tragedy that happened to her, that she touched her just like other misfortunes happen to thousands of others. Of course, he admits that it was an important event, that marked a before and after in his life, but nevertheless he says that other things that have happened to him or that he has achieved have marked his life in a deeper way, in a much more significant way. Irene has dedicated her life to defending forgiveness as the only way to move forward and she does practice what she preaches.
“Life is a wonderful and fleeting gift, so laugh”
-Irene Villa-
More than talking about her tragedy, the Madrilenian tries to give a message of optimism, in her talks she explains how before the attack she was a girl who did not know it was ETA and who remembers like her mother, who also lost a leg and an arm – in the hospital, he told her: “This is what it is, with this we are going to have to live our whole lives, we can live bitter or think that we were born this way and recover the life we both had”. And Irene – her name means Peace in Greek – chose to take her life back. She has managed to integrate the attack into the story of her life and now she is very happy; she assumes that she is because of and not in spite of everything that has happened to her, good or bad. She accepts and loves the life she has, the one she has built for herself based on effort, dedication and… Why not? Enjoy and pleasure.
On forgiveness and the toxicity of resentment
On many occasions she has been asked about resentment and she firmly expresses that it is a feeling that is not worth harboring. She says that, if she had held a grudge until today, since that fateful day, it would have been equivalent to having dragged a stone that was getting heavier and heavier and harder to let go of.
Because resentment becomes a home in us, just as we do in it, it manages to have with its opaque light everything we do and feel.
“If you want to be happy one day, come. If you want to be happy forever, forgive. I am reaping the fruits of forgiveness every day, in all areas.”
The life story of Irene Villa proves to us that even the worst situations that life confronts us are also part of it, that you have to accept it and learn to live with what happened, giving them your own meaning, or isolate them and focus in them so that each time they become a more fearsome ghost, which ends up devouring all your hope for a better life, annihilating all the positive thoughts of your mind.
“In order to live the smartest thing is to forgive, with rancor inside life is very bitter and very hard. You have to do it yourself”, he said a few years ago.
“Life rewards you…you must never throw in the towel…the only defeat is discouragement…you must never stop fighting…you must forgive yourself and others…we are not victims even if they put a bomb on us… we are responsible for our life, for our future”
Remember Irene, the next time you feel down. NEVER GIVE UP.
Video owned by WOBI – World of Business Ideas
