Overcoming

“The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief.”
~William Shakespeare, Othello

Adversity is the constant–a fact of life. All men and women will face turmoil, will face suffering, will face opposition. It serves its purpose. It builds the will. It hones the mind. It presses us beyond ourselves. Those who don’t know the little pains will never know the value of the peaceful moments, of the beauties that lurk behind life’s shadows. Not everyone can, of course. Some break at the wall, but most press on. Not because they want to, or because they know there’s something better at the other side.

Because they have to. Because the world keeps moving, day after day, and so too must we. Prepare. Life is pain, but life is also what we make of it, so it need not always be agony.

“If I had a formula for bypassing trouble, I would not pass it round.  Trouble creates a capacity to handle it.  I don’t embrace trouble; that’s as bad as treating it as an enemy.  But I do say meet it as a friend, for you’ll see a lot of it and had better be on speaking terms with it.” 
~Oliver Wendell Holmes

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In the face of Adversity…

This week’s Quotes of the Week deal with a harsher aspect of reality – but also a beautiful part of it. Pain, in life, M. Kathleen Casey once wrote, is inevitable, but suffering is optional. Pain is a part of life, but it also presents an opportunity for us to shine, for us to overcome, for us to prove the mettle of our humanity. This week’s quotes deal with that adversity, and its overcoming…

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
~Winston Churchill

“If I had a formula for bypassing trouble, I would not pass it round.  Trouble creates a capacity to handle it.  I don’t embrace trouble; that’s as bad as treating it as an enemy.  But I do say meet it as a friend, for you’ll see a lot of it and had better be on speaking terms with it. ”
~Oliver Wendell Holmes

“Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies?”
~Erich Fromm

“I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders.”
~Jewish Proverb