Adversity Essay

Adversity is like a mighty wind that tears away at individuals, but the things that cannot be torn, allow individuals to see who they really are. ​ Overcoming adversity​ is one of the biggest  obstacles individuals face while on the path of life. Problems, some larger than others, present themselves to people throughout their whole life. Regardless of how sharp, clever, or unworried one is, a person will encounter challenges, struggle, difficulties and at times, heart jerking moments. Thanks to many hardships, learning to deal with and conquering adversity is what makes the individual who they are in the world today. Elie Wiesel in the book ​ Night​, Tom Benecke in the short story ​Contents of the Dead Man’s Pockets​, Hannah in the movie ​Devil’s Arithmetic, ​and Malala Yousafzai​ all stood in the face of adversity in different situations. These individuals were able to survive with adversity by constantly changing their future, learning from a previous experience, and trying to find a positive way out of the situations that were constantly thrown their way.

As an author once said, “A bend in the road is not the end of the road… unless you fail to make the turn.” When facing adversity, focus the little energy left to create a new path, to make a new dream, or to pursue a new goal. People should make choices as they please, life will move on. Choice is the foe of fear, and individuals all have plenty of paths and decisions that they can choose from, but the most resilient leaders are masters at reminding themselves of their ability to choose while facing adversity. In the book ​Night ​by Elie Wiesel, the story begins in 1941 when the author himself is twelve years old. Throughout the novel, Elie explains how he faced adversity during his tragic experiences of the Holocaust. Elie describes to the readers that, “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed….Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust.

Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.” (Wiesel 32). Elie Wiesel largely struggled internally whether or not he should continue to believe in God after witnessing so  many deaths that he was not stopping, in addition to the harsh external weather, and the little amounts of food. Despite Elie’s hardships, he still kept his faith and had hope which was able to allow him to overcome one of the most barbarous, inhuman acts of violence to ever take place in history. Due to the way Elie reinvented his future and tried to maintain optimism, he was able to overcome adversity. By applying the way Elie Wiesel overcame tragedy in society today, individuals can constantly reinvent their future in order to triumph over adversity. As one once said “​

Learning from the past is a gift for the future”. Learning from from past situations, some bad and some good, allows for one to be able to face adversity when it hits them. As Tom Benecke realizes for the first time is his near death situation in​ Contents of a Dead Man’s Pocket​. When Tom finally realizes his mistakes the author states that “He understood fully that he might actually be going to die; his arms, maintaining his balance on the ledge, were trembling steadily now. And it occurred to him then with all the force of a revelation that, if he fell, all he was ever going to have out of life he would then, abruptly, have had. Nothing, then, could ever be changed; and nothing more­­no least experience or pleasure­­could ever be added to his life.