Nobility is born of adversity.
We hear catch phases all the time like, "that which does not kill us makes us stronger." or "no pain, no gain." While these are nearly fundamental truths in nearly every culture, it remains equally true that the most sought after wish in life, is to have a pleasant one.
Ask any person, in nearly any part of the world, what they wish for and the #1 answer willalways be, "to be happy". Happy, a state of mind achieved when everything is going your way.
So what is it exactly that we wish, hope and pray for? A lack of hardship? For life to be easy? If God, or nature, or whatever it is that you believe in were to answer you in the positive,and give you exactly what you asked for, then what would you become?
The short answer is, nothing. Not nothing as in an absence of being, but nothing as in, nothing worth mentioning. You would draw in air, eat, drink, sleep and never achieve anything greater then existing. For starters you would be fat. Not 1000 lbs fat so you could not get out of your bed (since that would be a hardship) but you would wear the body of one who has never worked out, or done a hard days work, soft, and pink and weak…
Second you would be stupid. Learning happens in only 2 ways. 1. Schooling in some form which can be very difficult. 2. Learning to overcome life’s obstacles often referred to as wisdom. Both of these contain within them challenge, and at many times downright hardships. Thankfully for the planet you would also not bare offspring. Fat and stupid are not things anyone looks for in a mate. (Even those who can get past one cant get past both)
So here you are, fat, stupid, lazy and alone, but happy…..Right?
Does anyone else here think that a combination of the above things would result in not happiness, but depression? How can it be that if you remove all of the hardships in life that you are left with a life not really worth living? Yet there it is. The truth laid bare, for all to see. So why is it that you hope, wish, pray for an ease of your burden? What, if not burden, creates the people who we admire and wish we could be like? Regardless of who your personal hero is, I will bet anything that, it is not a person who gained greatness by avoiding hardship. It does not matter what quality you admire, it is born of hardship.
Strength - Arnold, I don’t even have to give his last name and you know who I am talking about. Even if he is not you hero, you must admit that he is a hero to ALOT of people. His size and strength was born of years and years of torturing himself in the gym. If not for that torture, if not for bearing nights that he could not sleep because he was too sore to move, then he would not be the gold standard that all bodybuilders around the world measure themselves by.
Intelligence - Albert , much like Arnold I don’t have to say the last name. You already know I am talking about
the father of special relativity. While your capacity for intelligence may be genetic, even Einstein would have died nameless and unknown if he had not pushed his mind day after day after day. Isaac Newton was said to have some mornings that he could not even get completely out of bed, because the level of thought consumed him so completely that voluntary muscle movement was not possible.
Spirit - Start naming names… Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Gandhi, Mother Terrisa. Regardless of your belief in the existence of the first 3, we know the last 2. No one has ever been handed spiritual greatness. It is sacrificed for night and day, and very often results in the ultimate sacrifice.
Nobility, the art of being Nobel. Is not a birthright as it was thought to be in medieval times. Nobility is a title that is worn by those who have faced adversity regardless of fear, or chance of victory. This does not mean you have to win the fight. Some of the most Nobel of people lost the greatest fight of their lives. But the fact that they fought…. The fact that they let the other guy know he was in a fight….
THAT is what made them Nobel…
The most Nobel person I have ever met in my entire life was my son, Gabriel.
When he was 7 months old he was diagnosed with a lethal form of cancer. I would
have liked to be able to tell you that my son passed without pain. That he passed
gently into the next life in a dream. That could not be further from the truth.
He, little baby that he was, fought that dammed coward of a disease tooth and nail
for 4 long and frightfully painful months. I can hear some cold hearted people now
saying what makes that so special, kids get cancer all the time. To this I would answer.
There would be times as I slept (or tried to sleep) in the room next to him that I would
hear him crying in pain. I don’t know how to explain it, if you are not a parent, but a
parent knows what a cry of pain sounds like. It broke my heart to hear it because there
was little we could do to soften it… But when he would cry I would come to his side,
as soon as he saw me, he would grimace against the pain. If you could see the effort it
took, you would not believe it. Then he would wipe his eyes and force a smile.
I say forced because there was nothing easy or baby like about it. When his mother and I
talked to the nurses about it, they all said he did the same thing with them and that several
of the other nurses and doctors on the floor had started referring to him as the strongest
child they had ever met. You see, he did not want you to see him cry…. He would not let
you share his pain… I learned just how hard it was to do what he was doing, because
I promised him, in return, to never cry for him in front of him, and to force that same smile back.
I can tell you now, it takes an ultimate effort…. A supreme dedication….
At 11 months old, my own son passed away, but not before becoming his fathers one and only Hero.
The reason I bring all of this up is because I found myself about to give another whining prayer
to God. Asking to ease my burden. To make my life easier. To remove some of the stress…
I stopped mid prayer and had this entire thought breech my mind like a S.W.A.T. Team.
I found myself disgusted at my own weakness. "Hey God, could you take time out of your running the entire universe and holding back oblivion, to help this pathetic man make ends meet? Or how about helping me get my car fixed? …. " Right then and there my prayer changed, and will remain changed…. You see I am not a hero right now, not because my life is not easy enough, but because my life is not HARD enough. So from now on I will rejoice in my hardships. THANK YOU GOD for giving me this challenge to overcome.
Thank you for another chance to prove that I was worth making.
Thank you for pushing me right up to that edge…
I will pray only for the courage to never hang my head again, to never complain when it feels like too much.
I will pray for strength enough to let this life know, beyond the shadow of a dout….
That it was for dam sure in a fight!
Nobility is born of adversity… Before I leave this earth, I will be Nobel.
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