When I was nine, I punched my eighty-year-old great uncle in the face. Repeatedly. Then, cheering and clapping, giddy with excitement, I watched the virtual referee place a medal around my neck, crowning me the Wii Boxing Champion. I had just beaten a man who had once changed my diapers. It was a coming of age, a triumph, but, most important, it was an opportunity to bond with my tío. My Tío Lule—the face of resilience, who...

My primary study at the Mt. Sinai Beth Israel Clinical Trials Unit required me to examine HIV patients' personal information. To do this, I combed through medical records and, eventually, interviewed them in person. As I read through their files, I found that most of the patients had endured horrific trauma: violence, rape, abuse, extreme poverty. Yet in person, they turned out to be the strongest, most charismatic people I had ever met. Despite what they had gone through, they...