ADVERSITY

ADVERSITY:  One of the Catalysts for Learning

Extraordinary people survive under the most terrible circumstances and then become more extraordinary because of it.

 Most of the time, we don’t choose our adversity, but all the time we can choose our response to it.  If we respond positively to difficulties, the outcome will be potentially positive.  If we respond negatively to our difficulties, the outcome will be potentially negative.

There’s a story about a young woman who complained to her father about her life and how hard things were for her.  The adversity of life was overwhelming her, and she wanted to give up.

As she listened, her father filled three pots with water and brought them to a boil on the stove.  Into the first he put carrots slices, into the second he put eggs, and into the third he put ground coffee beans.  He let them simmer for a few minutes and then placed the carrots, eggs, and coffee before her in three containers.

 “What do you see?” he asked.

“Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.

 He asked her to feel the carrots.  She picked up a piece and it squished between her fingers.  He then asked her to examine an egg.  She picked one up, broke the shell, and saw the hard-boiled egg inside it.  Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee.  She smiled, as she tasted its rich flavour.

“So what does it mean?” she asked.

“Each ingredient was subjected to the same thing – boiling water – but each reacted differently.  The carrots went in hard.  But after they were in the boiling water, they became soft.  The egg was fragile with a thin outer shell and a liquid interior.  But it became hardened.  The ground coffee beans changed little.  But they changed the water for the better.

“Which are you,” he asked.  “When you face adversity, how do you respond?  Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”

 Life is filled with adversity.  We can be squashed by it.  We can allow it to make us hard.  Or we can make the best of it, improving the situation.  As British prime minister, Winston Churchill noted, “I have derived continued benefit from criticism at all periods of my life, and I do not remember any time when I was ever short of it.” Since you will face adversity, why not make the best of it?