TIME OF TRIAL, A BLESSING IN ADVERSITY - -Fitzkhamis, Khamis A. H.

TIME OF TRIAL, A BLESSING IN ADVERSITY


-Fitzkhamis, Khamis A. H.


 With a heavy heart, I commiserate with the entire U14MDfamily over the adversity of an undesirable result. I was lost in thought after I learnt of the resit results but then I remember, God knows what is best for us. He gives at times and denies other times and in all is goodness. We should get it clear that neither did anyone pass with his strength and might nor did anyone failed because of his weakness. I deemed it our collective responsibility to share in one another’s happiness and grievances.

Honestly, the U14MDfamily are in dire need of consolation. Though I have not much to say, I will like to relate to us an excerpt from the works of Michael Angier, the author of several books on success. In his book ‘THE STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS’, he did mention “BLESSING IN ADVERSITY” as one of the strategies for success. He thus said under thereunder:

“When I was about five years old, I lived with my family in Enterprise, Alabama for a few months while my father attended an advanced aviation course at nearby Fort Rucker.

What makes Enterprise, Alabama especially memorable is a strange monument they have in the middle of the town, you can’t miss it. In fact, you have to drive around it because it sits right in the middle of the road. The monument is a statue to the boll weevil.
It’s probably the only monument in the world erected in honor of an insect. It certainly wasn’t done because of aesthetic value –the boll weevil is a particularly ugly-looking creature. Surprisingly, it was erected because of the devastation the boll weevil caused the cotton crops of the surrounding area.

Why did they honour this pest? Well, had it not been for the boll weevil, the local economy would have continued its unhealthy dependence on its one-crop, one-product economy. Until then, everything depended entirely on cotton, when the boll weevil came, the farmers and all the other business that were reliant on the cotton farmers were forced to recognise the need to diversify.

In the long run, they saw that the boll weevil had, in fact, done them a favour by destroying their crops. No longer were their eggs all in one “cotton basket”. They started raising hogs, peanuts, and other cash crops, and the entire area was better off for it.
I think it is to those southern farmers’ great credit that they were able to see this ‘adversity’ for what it really was – a great blessing. Too often, we see difficult times as something to avoid –something only to endure. We usually don’t see the benefit until much later if at all.
If we look back at the things in our lives that were the most trying, the most painful and frustrating, we have to admit that there was value in it (if you can’t see this, you are probably too close to the situation).

Our lives are far more enjoyable (certainly more instructional) if we view each thing that happens to us as just that – a happening. Remember, it is not what happens to us, but our ‘response’ to what happens to us that makes the difference in the quality of our lives. I believe that everything that happens can be a lesson, every adversity can be a blessing. The following story illustrates this well.

Anthony Burgees discovered he had a brain tumour and only six months to live when he was forty years old. He was distressed that he had nothing to live his wife who was soon to become a widow. He decided to write –something he’d always wanted to do. The potential royalty from a book was the only thing he could think of doing to leave any kind of financial security for his family.
By the end of the first year and with no certainty that he would be ever be published, he finished five novels. But he did not die. His cancer went into remission and then disappeared altogether.
In his long and full life, Anthony Burgees went on to write more than seventy books. Without the death sentence from cancer, he might not have written anything.
Next time things don’t seem to be going the way you want, ask yourself what the positive aspect is. What is the benefit in the adversity? You will have greater enjoyment and learn more in the process.”

What I want to point out from the above two stories given by Michael Angier is that, we do come across challenges and adversities, but then, there is a blessing we never think of therein. We are all in a difficult time now and especially those afflicted with that remark other than ‘pass’.

Definitely it is hard but we have to overcome that negative feeling.
We have to overcome the fear.
We have to meditate.
We have to stay focussed.
We have to be patient. We have to persevere. We have to be confident. We have to succeed.
We have to pray and God will be there for us.


I will live us with the following 10 motivational quotes:


“Life is not easy for any of us, but what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves”
–Marie Curie


“The winners of life think constantly in terms of I can, I will, and I am. Losers on the other hand, concentrate their waking thoughts on what they should have or would have done” –
Dennis  Waitly.

“First they ignore you. Second, they laugh at you. Third, they fight you. Finally, you win” –Gandhi

“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish” –John Quincy Adams

“Divide each difficulty into as many parts as necessary to resolve it” –Rene Descartes

“Success is not measured by what you accomplish but the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds” –Orisson Swett Marden.

“Every great work, every great accomplishment, has been brought into manifestation through holding to the vision, and often just before the big achievement comes apparent failure and discouragement” –Florence Scovel Shinn.

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time” –Thomas Edison

“Fear is negative scenarios we give birth to in our mind that we believe are real. These thoughts are seeds that will adversely affect our future. We have the power to change the future by changing what we believe is real” –George De Vack

“The moment you start talking about what you are going to do if you lose, you have lost” –George Schultz.

HARD LUCK DUDES.