The greatness of the human being is also measured by the strength and courage shown by the moment of facing and dealing with the problems that arise in life.
Many people give up on problems out of fear, fear of their consequences, or the delicate task involved in solving them. They then become victims of fear and not of the problem itself.
Problems measure the size we have, the "wood" we are made of, the character we have to face life. The tribulations, the setbacks, the conflicts sift the human race and divide it between those who emerge successful and strengthened from the process and those who cannot do so and emerge weakened and vulnerable from the battle. In many cases the problems do not reach the solution that we would have wanted, in many others the results are clearly adverse to our expectations, but even in these cases the man of character emerges victorious because he learns, because he does not faint, because he grows.
Life is not benign, it does not have to be, humans are small creatures in the face of the magnitude of the natural and social phenomena that exist around us. The history of humanity is a chronicle of sacrifices and extremely hard battles against adversity. It was from the beginning and it will be until the end. Man has had to take from life every thing he has today, every benefit, every privilege; He has done so suffering and generously paying the cost. The man is a survivor, this is his main merit.
In the face of the problem, in the face of adversity, the primary objective must be precisely that: to survive, to leave the process intact. This already allows you to participate in the next battle, this already gives credit to beat a next opportunity. Surviving, getting out of the test is the fundamental imperative for the person facing conflict. Not giving up is the first and most important victory.
Unfortunately, there are more cases in which the imperative is not fulfilled, more people lower their arms in the face of the problem and are defeated. Each fall removes a handful of precious feathers from our wings, hurts them, until the point comes when they are no longer useful and we cannot fly. From there onwards we crawl through life with increasing difficulty, we see everything with the vision of the small creature surrounded by giants.
On the contrary, the vision of an imposing bird that crosses the sky and sees everything from above is beautiful: free, surrounded by clarity and peace. From the heights every problem looks small. From the heights you see not only the problem, but also everything beyond it. What the bird observes is still beautiful because in the middle of it there is this small spot: this problem, this disappointment.
We, human beings, have been granted the blessing of being able to fly: of appreciating life from above, of measuring things from above. In order to do this we must take care of our wings, not surrender to adversity so as not to be damaged by it.
No problem gives us the right to lower our arms. Not even the tiny ant does it when when walking through a small room it collides with a shoe; she surrounds this "mountain" or passes over it without hesitation.
Surely the privilege of appreciating her surroundings beyond the narrow walls of the enclosure is not reserved for her, but an obstacle, however immense it may be, does not stop her in her fervent desire to dominate her circumstances. Imagine how much more man must do, who potentially has the ability to dominate even other worlds.
Let's also look at the teaching other people leave us: touching stories of victory over adversity, a dramatic opportunity to celebrate life. People who fortune deprived of being born with all its members or all its faculties, people who are born and raised in terrifying conditions of poverty, people who are victims of insurmountable diseases. Imagine how big the adversities they face are, let's think for a moment that many of them know life like this from the cradle: without guilt and without option. These beautiful beings are exactly the size of the problems they face and overcome day by day: they are great among the great. They are also a gift from God to us because before that we can only give thanks and be humble, before that we can only be ashamed of our weakness, of our complaint.
They say that courage is not represented by the absence of fear but by the ability to control and overcome it. That courage is needed to avoid fainting in the face of the harshest of adversities, because we have the right to feel fear! Of course we do; essentially a healthy reverent fear that is an indispensable sign of humility and intelligence; This is part of the job of measuring ourselves. Valuable time is wasted by the man who worries more about being fearful than facing his fears face to face.
Many people give up on problems out of fear, fear of their consequences, or the delicate task involved in solving them. They then become victims of fear and not of the problem itself.
Good doses of courage are required to overcome fears and not give up in the face of adversity, but this courage does not naturally emerge from any motivation, its source must be closely linked to the greater motives that move us, to the fundamental objectives that we have in life, to the deepest feelings that guide us.
Courage arises from the love we feel towards the goals we have set ourselves to achieve, from the love that relates us to our families and our friends and fundamentally from the love we feel for ourselves. When all these things are put at risk due to the Problem or adversity, then courage and strength emerge not to give up. In this way, problems also measure us, because they put our love to the test. And the greater our love for ourselves, for our loved ones and for the more expensive goals we have for our lives, then the greater the courage that we It helps us to stand firm in the face of conflict and the vision for reaching solutions is clearer.
Our pride is also put to the test by adversity, a healthy and genuine pride for what we have achieved in life, for what we appreciate, for what the ancient Greek warriors called “the plot conquered by blood and fire”. It is proven that life does not give anything away, everything you want must be taken from you with effort and this must not be resigned without a healthy fight: firm as the right that supports it.
Unfortunately sometimes this fight must also be held to demonstrate to all those who love us little the character of the wood with which we are made. In times of tribulation not all hands are stretched out or are friends, many rather, seem ready to give us the final push and precipitate our fall; our grandmothers wisely said that there is “a little bit of everything” in this vineyard
Lord, and we would sin of absurd innocence to think that all the people around us only want our good; It is usually the opposite! Envy, suspicion, rancor, selfishness dwell among us before we come into this world, and these agents of misfortune are strengthened by our weakness in the face of problems and are nourished by our capitulations.
Finally, we must be prepared to face adversity at significant levels of loneliness. Problems also measure the nature of the commitment that other people have with us, they are a precious factor of qualification of those around us. But even though we have the blessing of being among people who support us a lot, a significant number of problems tend to have a deeply personal interaction: it is us and them. The scene where the conflict takes place is often like the cold summit of a distant mountain; loneliness is felt there even when many arms are waiting for us below. This loneliness is only faced with strength of spirit, with every fiber of faith that we have in ourselves and in something greater than ourselves.Ugly companion is loneliness and grotesque partner of adversity, but we are greater and he who is in us!
When the tribulation comes and you want to confront it firmly with every carat that reflects its worth, you may find this powerful statement helpful: "The stars shine when the sun goes down."
