Everyday Canvas

Insight into Adversity

Prompt: Rahm Emanuel said, "You never let a serious crisis go to waste." Have you ever spun a crisis into an opportunity? Were the end results good or bad?

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This quote sounds to be in the same vein as making lemonade out of lemons. I’ve had a few lemons in my life, but I usually squeezed them and used the juice for flavoring, but anything too serious I just lived through it and coped the best I could. Truth is, even if a situation of not letting-a-serious-crisis-go-to-waste might have occurred, I have no memory of it.

As for not letting a “serious crisis” go to waste, I usually do not realize I am in a serious crisis. Only in hindsight, do I see that such and such an event was a serious crisis. Hello, me? Duh! So in the past, how could I have taken care of a situation if I hadn’t caught on to the importance of it!

Yet, it doesn’t matter that I do not recall such a situation, but I think the idea is good. It encourages optimism, vigilance, and a positive attitude in the face of adversity. Maybe there’s even a hidden conjoining thought here that’s more significant than that can-do attitude. It is hidden in the word adversity.

Although adversity is painful and we all try to evade it, it can have a positive impact on who we are, for when we face adversity and take it head on, we learn self-control and persistence and build self-confidence. We also foster an attitude of conscientiousness toward others who face similar difficulties. On the negative side, when the adversity is out of control and the person facing it is totally helpless, then the lesson learned becomes hopelessness. In some cases of abused children, for example, the released stress hormones may physically damage a child’s developing brain.

Coming back to me, maybe I never turned a lemon into lemonade, but I am sure I used it to flavor fish. One thing I do that helps me in the face of a serious misfortune is to count my blessings and be thankful for what I have, and there is always something to be thankful for as long as I live and breathe.