Idealistic, optimistic, hopeful, carefree, happy go lucky, maybe even purposely naïve; possibly describes a person’s young life for years…..

Until tragedy strikes.

In the 2006 Oscar award winning foreign film Pan’s Labyrinth we were introduced to 11 year old Ofelia who had one life before her mother remarries her dangerous military step father who primarily contracted with mom for breeding purposes.

The time is 1944 in Spain.

Bands of anti-Franco fighters hide in the forest, encouraged by news of the Normandy landings and other setbacks for Franco’s friends Hitler and Mussolini. A troop of Franco’s soldiers is sent to the remote district to hunt down the rebels, and is led by Capitan Vidal, her step father, a sadist under cover as a rigid military man.

The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.…..Martin Luther King, Jr.

Many adjust to tragedy through drug use, anger, suicidal thoughts, deep depression, or societal with drawl to name a few.

How did Ofelia deal with her new tragic life?

She retreated into one of the most elaborate fantasy worlds ever created on film.

For Western Civilization in general and America in particular, the horrors of 911 when the twin towers in New York were destroyed and thousands of innocent civilians were killed, it is considered one of the greatest tragedies of modern times.

Most of us saw, heard or read about it from a distance.

What if you lost a loved one in the horrors of that day? How would that tragedy affect you? How would you react to it?

This is the situation that young Thea Megan Trinidad, a super talented Indie wrestler found herself in.

Ms. Trinidad grew up watching professional wrestling with her father Michael and younger brother Timothy.

On September 11, 2001, when Trinidad was ten years old, her father was killed in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, where he worked for the firm Cantor Fitzgerald as a Telecom Analyst. He was on the 103rd floor of the North Tower when it collapsed.

Thea was featured in an NBC special, titled Children of 9/11, on September 5, 2011.

How did she react to the unfortunate tragedy?

Growing up, Thea worked as a counselor in a camp for children that had lost parents on 9/11 and also participated in charitable causes such as Habitat for Humanity after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans with Tuesday’s Children.

My heart goes out to victims and survivors of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy and to their families. This disaster will go down in history books as one of the largest natural disasters in U.S. history.…………Ellen Tauscher

Most important in honor of her father’s memory she decided to become a professional wrestler.

The ring honors of our Indie star’s career are lengthy.

In synopsis Thea along with being a high flying wrestler is a model, actress, and Zumba instructor of Puerto Rican descent. Currently signed to TNA Wrestling, she is best known for her work in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) where she was under the ring name Rosita.

At her informative site theatrinidad.com she expands on her resume. “Her passions for wrestling lead her to sign with TNA iMPACT Wrestling in January 2011, after being discovered by Tommy Dreamer. Thea’s work ethic and determination helps her to focus on perfecting her craft as a wrestler and as a performer.

Thea Trinidad’s successes include participating in feature films The Witches of OZ and later in Self Storage alongside Tommy Dreamer, Eric Roberts, Michael Berryman and Jonathan Silverman. Thea has been featured in numerous magazines and News media such as Pro-Wrestling Illustrated, Superluchas, Luchas 2000, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Orlando Sentinel, USA Today and more.

Thea is also listed #31 of 50 best single female wrestlers in PWI Magazine, placed #10 out of 38 participants in the WBFF Fitness Competition, has co-hosted Busted Open Radio on Sirius XM and interviewed by popular New York radio station Hot97.”

We’re impressed. Aren’t you?

Still, in her business Thea has her critics. It’s one thing to peer at an Indie star from the outside. It’s another to see how they are being reviewed from the inside.

Here are two reviews at the respected wrestling site cagematch.net:

“Rosita has some decent high-flying skills, including a nice moonsault, and she’s young enough that she can only get better. Thus far she seems best suited as a tag team wrestler, but her small size, personality, good looks and ring style could make her an effective singles underdog babyface down the line.

Was part of one of my favorite mixed tag matches, with Carlito vs. Stevie Richards and Victoria at House of Hardcore III. Now scheduled to be a part of Global Force Wrestling – will be interesting to see what she does with another shot on a big stage.”

We agree. Her time is coming. Believe it. Now for the other review.

“Rosita has improved a bit. She is showing now the high flying side of her, and has gotten more in-ring time. Hopefully, she keeps on growing as a wrestler.”

We’re confident that she will.

In an interview with wrestlinginc.com she makes it very clear what her motivation and determination emanates from. “My dad was a wrestler in high school,” Thea said. “He was really good and had a great amateur background, but it was always his dream to be in the WWE.”

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.…..Plato

The conclusion to the dark fantasy film Pan’s Labyrinth was deeply sad. While we know that retreating into a fantasy world after a deep tragedy is not the solution, you could certainly understand why little Ofelia did.

After a life altering tragedy, Indie wrestling star Thea Trinidad made a decision to have the courage to come into the light.

As fans, we will always be glad that she did.

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Sources: brainyquote.com, Wikipedia, fciwomenswrestling2.com, FCI Elite Competitor, photos thank you Wikimedia Commons.

http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/problems/common-reactions-after-trauma.asp

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-pans-labyrinth-2006

https://twitter.com/TheaTrinidad

http://www.theatrinidad.com/

http://prowrestling.wikia.com/wiki/Thea_Trinidad

http://www.cagematch.net/?id=2&nr=10147

http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2014/0911/580918/thea-trinidad-talks-honoring-her-father-who-passed-away-on-911/