Each life here is drawn from its own record, which shows the shape.
Nicholas Winton (1909 to 2015)
In the months before the Second World War, Nicholas Winton helped organize the transport of 669 children, most of them Jewish, from Czechoslovakia to Britain, and his part in it stayed private until 1988, when his wife found his scrapbook of their names in the attic. A dangerous rescue carried through and then left out of public view for half a century shows the shape from outside.
Sources: sfi.usc.edu, en.wikipedia.org
Mulan (legend)
In the Ballad of Mulan, a Chinese poem thought to date from the Northern Wei period (386 to 535), Mulan takes her father's place in the army, serves twelve years while her comrades take her for a man, and turns down a high post at court, asking instead for a swift mount to ride home. A hard and risky duty taken on for someone else, carried to its end, and left at that shows the shape from outside.
Source: en.wikipedia.org