Thriving in Adversity

In the story 'the Betz by Anton Chekhov, the lawyer thrived in his own self-imposed  solitary confinement. He had all he the time in the world to story, contemplate and widen his horizon of knowledge. He learned so much that by the time he finished his term of fifteen years and was entitled to a huge sum from the banker, he found the idea of wealth trivial against his immense acquired knowledge. He decided not to claim his reward.

From the outset, it seems foolish of the lawyer, first to have entered the bet and then to have declined the reward. But the point Chekhov wanted to make was that the lawyer was a changed man now. He had transcended the worldly desire of wealth and opted for spiritual assets. In other words, he thrived in his adversity of total solitary confinement for fifteen long years. He opted to enrich his soul during the time in which he could not care about the world and his worldly worries. He used his adversity to attain higher purpose.

Not all adversities are same. Some have financial woes, others have bodily deficiencies and anomalies while others have cultural, social or relational turmoil. It is not the adversities that are special. It is the way we handle them. 

Take trans model and author Casey legler who was born a girl, had almost masculine physique and height and could not feel comfortable doing what was expected of her, swimming. In a candid interview for the hardtalk program of BBC, she described how she felt challenged, deprived and even contemplated ending her own life many times. Despite all odds, she regrouped, fought back and coached herself out of misery to become a model, author and campaigner. She did that with her grit nad the important help from her sister. She also thrived amid adversities.

Many artists, writers and other creators create their best in prisons, amidst wars, under severe duress or in great poverty. Somehow, the extraordinary tenacitynof human spirit finds it's best resources when pushed to the corner. It's like gold being purified under the heat of fire. The human spirit seems similar in its capacity to shine under the scorching heat of adversities. So, better not to panic in distress. May be it is there to show us what we are capable of. 

Wednesday 30 October 2019