In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was quoted during his inaugural address: “Things in life will not always run smoothly. Sometimes we will be rising toward the heights – then all will seem to reverse itself and start downward. The great fact to remember is that the trend of civilization itself is forever upward, that a line drawn through the middle of the peaks and the valleys of the centuries always has an upward trend.”
We all have different struggles in our lives. If we were not required to struggle to gain what we want, history would not be what it is today. Stories in history, books, movies and newspapers show us adversity being conquered. We constantly read, see and hear of individuals overcoming hardship. In all of these cases, and in spite of everyone’s different background or different situations they each had faced, all had one thing in common: determination in the face of difficulty. Anyone with enough determination to succeed can make their dreams a reality. Stumbling along the way does not require submission. And everyone has enough determination. You have done it before…. Taking your first step or learning to ride a bike. Passing tests and graduating college. These were all accomplished because of your willpower and resolve. Now we face new tests in our lives and as long as we work hard enough and long enough, we can again have victory over our obstacles. Applying this in my own life can be easy. Recently having a surgery has proven to be harder than it always had looked. Being in my 20s, I figured hip surgery would be something I could bounce back from easily. Don’t laugh when I seriously admit that I have had to find out the hard way that it is not acutely true. Overcoming my adversity has proven difficult and painful; but now that I am four months on the other side of the anesthesia, I can see how pushing through is the only way to overcome.
You do not need to be a historic figure to overcome adversity. Ordinary men and women are determined to fight every day. In fact, determination is what I believe takes ordinary to the extraordinary. Inside each of us is a fighter. Inside each of us… there is a winner.
Amanda Strunk Miller Managing Editor
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