Stranded at the Jersey Shore in January 2015
Aside from fireworks on the Fourth of July, a proliferation of USA-emblazoned paraphernalia come Olympics-season, and Tom Hanks, there is nothing Americans love more than the story of an underdog. So what is it about struggle that makes it such an ostracizing experience?
When faced with adversity, it's all too easy to turn on one's heels and run to the nearest lifeboat in sight. Can't find a job? Ask Daddy to make room for you in the family business. Your midterm makes your super-crucial-for-graduate-school Economics course average hover at a C+? March straight to the dean's office to complain about the professor's opaque syllabus and teaching methods.
The point is, we live in a society shaped by ever-changing ideals and technologies, which in turn, have bred a cultural phenomenon of instant gratification. As such, anything remotely difficult to complete is shunned as obscure, obsolete, obfuscating. Whatever happened to growing pains?
It is through struggle that one can learn the definitions of an individual's true nature -- their boundaries, limitations, and limitless expressions. How else can you ensure your growth as a member of society without triumphing through plight? Think about the last tidbit of information someone told you -- did that nugget stick with you after you had moved on from the situation? I suspect, as it happens to me personally, that information sourced through toil (such as a research paper when one actually stomps around in the library for books) will make much more of a headier impression than that relayed easily by word of mouth.
This isn't an argument to voluntarily submit oneself to pain in search of enlightenment.
Embrace the difficult. Acknowledge the unknown. Welcome the growth.
The point is, we live in a society shaped by ever-changing ideals and technologies, which in turn, have bred a cultural phenomenon of instant gratification. As such, anything remotely difficult to complete is shunned as obscure, obsolete, obfuscating. Whatever happened to growing pains?
It is through struggle that one can learn the definitions of an individual's true nature -- their boundaries, limitations, and limitless expressions. How else can you ensure your growth as a member of society without triumphing through plight? Think about the last tidbit of information someone told you -- did that nugget stick with you after you had moved on from the situation? I suspect, as it happens to me personally, that information sourced through toil (such as a research paper when one actually stomps around in the library for books) will make much more of a headier impression than that relayed easily by word of mouth.
This isn't an argument to voluntarily submit oneself to pain in search of enlightenment.
Embrace the difficult. Acknowledge the unknown. Welcome the growth.
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