The Challenge of Adversity

The Challenge of Adversity

1988 7 July 21 The Challenge of Adversity (330) Edmund Burke, (1729-1797) the Irish writer, statesman and philosopher, once observed that “he that wrestles with us, strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.” Shaikh Saadi, the famous Persian poet, has expressed very much the same thought in the form of a parable in his book entitled Gulistan: “Don’t you see, when a cat becomes frustrated, it claws out the eyes of the lion.”

Each of these writers has seen something positive in adversity, and implies that neither passivity nor lamentation is fitting response to it. Each, by his words, encourages the sufferer to adopt a positive attitude and to launch himself on a positive course of action when confronted by difficulty or danger.

Adopting a positive attitude means looking upon adversity not as a form of irreversible oppression, but as a challenge to one’s mental and physical skills. If one sees nothing in adversity but tyrannical misfortune, one will tend to do little but register protests. A whole negative mentality will then be built up. But if one regards it as a challenge, one will try to face up to it and overcome it, very often drawing upon hitherto unsuspected potential. The mind will be stirred to action and one will draw upon reserves of moral courage which would otherwise have lain dormant. It is in seeking to counteract the nefarious plans of an enemy that one’s intelligence is quickened and one’s stores of wisdom are brought forth to meet the urgency of the situation.

Protests lead one nowhere. They can only lead to further protests, thus draining away whatever one has left in terms of strength and enthusiasm. The futility of such action must immediately be recognised, so that precious time and energy may not heedlessly be squandered. After all, acceptance of a challenge gives a man new-found courage, so that even the weakest can overcome the strongest. In exactly the same way as Saadi’s cat could cause the mighty lion to retreat.