1.
unemployment
2.
Mr. Ponder
3.
Truman
4.
Solomon
5.
Chamberlain
6.
Columbus
7.
Anne Frank
8.
Lincoln
9.
Gabriel
10.
resolve
11.
hope
Translator's Note

“There is no life that I have not created.
“The happy ones just choose to be happy, and the unhappy ones just choose to be unhappy.”

A severe recession, rising prices, mounting credit card debt, and a chaotic social atmosphere... ... In this frustrating reality where we live each day like a hamster on a wheel, there is our ordinary neighbor, David Ponder.
He was laid off from his job at the age of 46, and now his bank account is empty, with rent, various bills, and his daughter's hospital bills all weighing on his finances.
The one word he blurts out at the end of despair, “Why me!”, may be the very words we ourselves wanted to say.
I've worked hard for my family and company, I've lived a good life, and yet all I've received in return is a life of mere poverty! Why is the world so unfair? What a lucky day for our humble citizen, Mr. Ponder!

"Hope is already beginning within me!" Mr. Ponder's story of discovering a new light in life through the stories of seven great people who overcame adversity, hardship, and trials to create a chapter in history will bring a new light of hope to us living today.

Whose life is easy?
But even Anne Frank knew how to choose her own life!

Mr. Ponder's journey through history, which begins at the edge of despair, initially feels somewhat odd to the reader.
But as you follow him and meet each and every person from the past, the message this book delivers is engraved deep in your heart.
That is, no matter how great people are, they have overcome their own pain and survived.

This is where the book delivers its most brilliant impression.
Harry Truman, who was agonizing over dropping the atomic bomb; Anne Frank, who hid in her attic, avoiding the Nazis' search; Columbus, who persuaded sailors angry at the uncertain promise of discovering a new continent; Chamberlain, the commander of the Union Army, who changed the course of the war with a single order to charge just before defeat at the Battle of Gettysburg... ... No matter how great these figures are, the author wonderfully recreates these names, which have nothing to do with me, as if they were living their lives today.

Mr. Ponder (and we) come face to face with the lives of the great men so convincingly portrayed by the author, and discover a common message in their lives.
That is, “I choose my life.” “I decide to have hope and courage rather than despair and give up.”

A life made great in just one day.
If Mr. Ponder could do it, so can I!

Mr. Ponder returns from the greatest journey in the world.
But nothing has changed for him.
An empty wallet, an old car, a grieving wife… has anything really changed for Mr. Ponder? This is the lingering thought this book leaves us with at the end.
After reading this book, everyone will know the answer.
Nothing around him has changed, but Mr. Ponder himself has changed.
Mr. Ponder's life was already beginning to become great.
It was the old Mr. Ponder who set out on his journey, but it was the new Mr. Ponder who returned from his great journey.