adversity_builds_character [.:..The SeeR ..:.] Only those who survive the toughest of challenges go on to become great people. If you don't undergo a certain degree of hardships in your life, you will end up as nothing more than an organic, lumpy indentation on your sofa. People always whine and complain about "Life's not fair" or "Why does this happen to ME?" and "This Life Sucks!" or "Why does God allow me to suffer?" The fact of the matter is that Our Human Mind is designed to strive through hardships. Without challenges... we do not grow. This applies both indivudally and toward society as a whole! The term "adversity builds_character " should become more prevailent in society than the whines of our youth. Adversity (or, diffuclt, painful or stressful situations) Helps us to refocus our lives onto that which is meaningful and significant, rather than wastful and extravegant. Please keep that in mind at all times, Thank you. 021130 ... . dogma blah blah blah 021130 ... [.:..The SeeR ..:.] Wow [dot]! That was a very provacative statement. I, for one, am impressed. Your eloquence exudes a manner of conversing that rivals shakespearian poetry. Your exercise in redundancy proves that repetition does eventually force your point and make you win any argument! And your courage... I am awed by the high level of courage it took for you to anonymously post such ambitious words. The world is a better place because of you, [dot]... A better place... 021201 ... . your way of saying absolutely nothing with so many words is what impresses me 021201 ... screwing ofr virginity for the sake of arguement say it is dogma. that doesnt necessarily mean it is wrong or bad. who cares if it is repeated a bit too much, it still is a message that needs to be listened to and headed simply by the fact that is has merrit and rings of truth. 021201 ... ??????? Sometimes adversity builds character, but sometimes it tears it down. 021201 ... [.:..The SeeR ..:.] 7 Question Marks, (and dot, since you are one and the same... (don't forget who it was that gave you those perception points?)) the term Adversity Builds Character is simply one of wisdom, not faith.[I assume your misdirection comes from lack of experience, youth, etc. and therefore understandable.] It is, however congruent with True Faith, as are most terms of wisdom. Whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. If you encounter adversity, pain and stress will seep into your mind and slowly destroy it, if you allow them to. But a simple resistance, and the desire to move forward will make you wiser, stronger, and more humble as you heal. Just like exercise makes you stronger by first destroying your muscle fibers, and then rebuilding stronger ones. 021201 ... The Spork adversity only builds character if the subject of the adversity has had a chance through guidance in some form or other, be it parenting or other aspects of socialization, to develop some strength of character in the first place the generation that has tried, through the discourse and dialogues of electoral politics and a lot of general moralizing, to hammer upon the issue of "character" as a defining virtue is oddly enough the same generation that abandoned many of its children to TV sets, day-care centers, and Ritalin to take care of those messy entanglements that parenthood brings about if one's character has no foundation or a shaky one at best, adversity can have infinitely more deleterious effects on a person's character than it might be possible to imagine and this isn't even addressing the notion of some characters being inherently deviant or defective from their very beginnings (yes, as progressive as i like to believe i am, i also believe that some people are just born fucked up) 021201 ... The Spork If i might elaborate further, the statement "Adversity builds character" is a more polite version of the old adage "if you kick a boy enough times, he will become a man" of course, however, no one ever stops to ask what kind of man he might become. 021201 ... ??????? Yeah. That's exactly what I meant, Spork. The kind of adversity that kills or otherwise permanently scars is difficult to profit from. As far as I can tell, adversity has done its part in filling our nation's prisons. If you're a Christian, though, you more or less have to believe that God doesn't subject people to any more adversity than they can handle. To believe anything else would be to call God unfair or possibly even cruel. And I'm not the DotGuy, The Seer. I'm sure you were just trying to play the astute detective with your characteristically misworded pronouncement that we're "one and the same", and it was a nice attempt, but it's just not true. 021202 ... somebody Could this apply to blather as a whole? 070719 ... gja Statements like "Adversity builds character" and "Money doesn’t make you happy" should be treated with absolute contempt. They are put about by middle class, bourgeois bullshit artists who have rarely had to go without anything and have never been subject to grinding adversity or abject poverty. Try telling a conscripted coal miner who is forced to work 16 hour days for a pittance that adversity builds character. If he / she have the strength to talk they just might tell you that the only thing their adversity builds is callus on hands, blindness in eyes and breaks in bones. Try telling a single mum with three hungry screaming kids who has been knocked up and then knocked around by her old man that adversity builds character. She might tell you in between swipes at her running nose that the only thing adversity builds is throbbing headache, frustration, sickness and contempt for anyone telling her that "well at least you've got character" Wake up to yourselves. You’re sitting at a high speed internet connection with the world at your fingertips and you want to tell people that adversity builds character. Well your fat white ass is your adversity and its building your chances of diabetes and early death. Good. 070719 ... dosquatch I believe that what one has - health, life, family, possessions - mean more when one has to work to achieve such. I believe there is more built in one's character in those coal mines than there is as some stuffed shirt investment banker. On the other hand, as far as "money doesn't buy happiness", I certainly would like the opportunity to be in the position to decide for myself. I have a hard time feeling pity for your single mother. It is pretty well known at this point what causes children. There are choices she can make. Like using protection, for one. Like leaving the abusive relationship, for another. Sometimes such choices are not easy to make or carry out. Therein lies the character building. I sit at the end of a high speed connection, yes. That I pay for, out of the paychecks I earn, from the job I have made myself qualified for, doing the tasks asked of me. None of this has been gifted to me. It is mine because I worked to make it so. And that you would make a statement about "fat white asses" belies your mindset in the rest of your commentary. It says you blame those fat white asses for your lot in life. It says you feel those same asses owe something to you and yours. Bullshit. If you do not like where you are, what you are, who you are, you are free to put in the effort to change any and all of that. If you are not willing to put in the effort, that is nobody's fault but yours... and says a lot about your character. 070719 ... gja Thanks for engaging. Working backward to respond: I have no dissatisfaction with my life. By accident of time. DNA and latitude I was born into a land, preserved from the worst of the human condition by an abundance of resources, good governance and popular enlightenment. Further, accident of birth, availed me of love, good health, encouragement, support and education. I don’t value these things less for them being readily available to me – on the contrary I value them more. This is because I can recognise scarcity in a world where less than all of the population has less than all their needs satisfied regularly. Your pay cheques avail you to your internet no doubt. And very admiral of you to have a job to collect said pay cheques. And very admirable of you to have studied hard to get said job. But it all presupposes that these things are available to be had, or that you have the wherewithal to obtain them. To most of the worlds population these things are not even there to be had. Far from blaming the metaphoric fat white ass (and Im sure mine could be described that way too) I see it as an adversity to be overcome. Because in its own way it limits me, its owner, from appreciating what are no more than accidents of availability. And now to things broader: I cringe at your lack of compassion for single mum. You suggest she might just get up and leave her bashing lover. Where does she go? What if the only form of love she has ever known comes at the end of clenched fists. Cry for her, don’t belittle her by suggesting she might try a little birth control. How patronising to think that the things available to you are available to her. This happens in rags to riches fairytales on the screen in crappy movies. People born in less than favourable circumstance generally live their lives there too…and die there (early). Concepts of character are foreign to this single mums world. Try the concept of just getting by or the concept of sucking cocks to pay rent. Character doesn’t come into it and it doesn’t come from documentaries watched on widescreen TVs bought with a little overtime. Next time you come across a single mum ask her this: “What would you prefer: Enough money to pay your years rent or a little more character?” To equate the getting of character with the enduring of adversity is, I think, really patronising. Our comrade coal miner: Im imagining hes older. Im imagining he’s done his best, has raised his kids on a pittance, and, hopefully watched them fly away. But sometime during those long years underground the ability to appreciate the fine things in life have withered and died. I reckon he might drink to hide the pain in his lower back and to block the voices of regret. I reckon he’s a grumpy bastard. I reckon he let some of the frustration in his life out with a leather belt on his two year olds ass. I reckon his wife laid in protection of those kids when they begged him for a little treat that he couldn’t afford. I don’t think he’s such a great bloke. He endured and overcome a world of adversity. But character – he has none. He’s a product of his surrounds, he is a mean spirited fucker that would break you like a twig rather than endure my dissertation on character. 070719 ... Got It Yikes. You are a bag of hot air. I have faced adversity in my life, and it has greatly influenced the character I am to day. It is an influence that has forced me to keep changing, but in the process, I've kept growing. It is truly amazing for you to declare my experience the pitiful refuge of bullshit artistry. What a small minded twit you must be! 070720 ... We all agree the world has its injustices 070720 ... pete and cheesewhiz adds personality 070720 ... dosquatch gja "Far from blaming the metaphoric fat white ass" I apologize for having misread you. The statement, though, does have that feel to it, and does tint the rest of your comments. Just saying. gja "I cringe at your lack of compassion for single mum" It is not being a single parent that drew my comments, it was the rest of the circumstances in which you painted her. Things happen. Children are born out of wedlock. Such is life. This can be difficult, though, and I have nothing but compassion for those who find themselves in difficult positions. By the time the third child comes, though, and from an abusive relationship, your hypothetical mother has shown, at the very least, a lack of motivation to improve her circumstances, if not an embracing of those circumstances with willing abandon. My compassion is endless, but my time is not. I have better places to exert my time and compassion than here. gja "Concepts of character are foreign to this single mums world. Try the concept of just getting by or the concept of sucking cocks to pay rent." And you question MY compassion by assuming that prostitution is this lady's only recourse? Surely you jest. But, this being the case of your argument, I feel I should point out that contraceptives are tremendously less expensive than raising a child, much less three. Again, just saying. gja "He’s a product of his surrounds, he is a mean spirited fucker that would break you like a twig rather than endure my dissertation on character." Given your assumptions of his character and demeanor, I might do the same in his position. Your description of him is belittling. Your assumptions are insulting. I know people of all walks of life, all income brackets, all races. There are good people and bad people. There are raving assholes. There are drunks. There are angels in human form. People are people, and it is surprising how absolutely little "social status" plays into what sort of character a person has. But, by and large, people are basically good and well balanced. I find it to be at least polite to assume such about a person until they actively demonstrate otherwise. That you don't... well... you have my compassion. The world must be a very dark place for you. 070720 ... They call me Truth let me start by saying that this is just a opinion that i have had for a while now. I have noticed that there are no absolutes. there is nothing that applies to everyone. People aren't always born with ten toes. However, we seem to be in love with them and we always testify that things are true due to our own personal experience. That in itself is not harmless, to believe that something is true for ourselves. We may even see these things that seem to justify this truth around us. But... Something peculiar happens. Many times, whether it be ego, or perception, or perspective, we begin to think that personal wisdoms apply to everything, that what goes up must come down (though true on up may not be in every part of the universe, and there have been cases of certain elements super cooled to sub zero temperatures may defy the laws of gravity) and we forget that there are exceptions (the platypus lays eggs) and in fact what we believe to be true may be rather exceptional. And it has been the case with religions and many other opinions, that absoluteness causes more separateness and inability to comprehend, tolerate and accept other people that anything else (not disregarding that there may be exceptions to this as well) So with this said, in order to see pass ourselves it is not necessary for us to abandon our truths, but rather to understand that others exist that may different to ours. Paradox Dichotomy Or even better, the humility to realize that you may not know everything. In my experience adversity has built character (to stick with the topic of this page) 070720 ... T forgive me for all the errors, i was otherwise preoccupied watching television. 070720 ... gja D: it may be - painful - but we may not be worlds apart on our approach here. When you say “and it is surprising how absolutely little "social status" plays into what sort of character a person has." - I couldn’t agree more. Actually I could agree more. Further - what I have suggested is this: 1) Access to resource is not commensurate with overcoming of adversity. It is often mere chance. 2) Character is not the automatic outcome, or even natural byproduct, from overcoming adversity. 3) Character, its appreciation, its demonstration, installation and continuation is assessable on an individual basis. I ask this of myself as much as you: How many truly nasty figures of note, or, for that matter, acquaintances, have overcome adversity? I would suggest many. Often, I believe, their travails have embittered them - and for that - despite their evil - they have my compassion. 070720 ... dosquatch Perhaps it would be more fair to say "adversity CAN build character". True enough, it is not automatic, but difficulties in life present an opportunity to learn, to expand, to better one's self. It is up to the individual, though, to capitalize on these opportunities. There is a choice to be made. Robert_Frost, The_Road_Less_Traveled speaks to this. Or perhaps I'm just plumb_tuckered_out and should go to sleep instead of trying to think about this any more tonight. I think that's what I'll do. Carry on, carry on. 070720 what's it to you? who go blather from