extra something

Now on Serendip an article on Howard Hoffman. This veteran is a painter, a teacher, a psychologist, a physicist or a mathematician in one person. It's a highly inspiring person, only by reading about him. His method is use of humour and observation. There is some extra thing that survivors have... Is it more taste for life? Was he obliged to think deeper because of his experience? I recognise the ''extra something" from some other veterans / war survivors I know. A certain passion for living, for making living worthwhile?