The phrase “thinking outside the box” gained popularity in the American lexicon in the 1960s and 1970s as a creative exercise to teach unconventional problem-solving.
One proponent of that technique was a Vietnam-era Navy pilot who survived a tragic plane crash in 1999 and lived nearly a quarter-century as a functioning quadriplegic. His uplifting life story is poignantly portrayed in the book “Grounded: How One Man Made It Through the Unimaginable.”
