“A Farewell to Arms” By Ernest Hemingway.

How can adversity prove beneficial?

In the article “Perseverance: The Ability to Keep Going in the Face of Adversity” by John Kingsley, a jobs expert, explains that “Adversity might be an opportunity in disguise..” and that “By Persevering, individuals showcase a strength of character”. The author uses the word perseverance to show how we push through adversity to make it beneficial in the end. What can be learned from the hardship or adversity reflects our character coming out of it as said by the author. The author also uses the connection of adversity and perseverance to be a way to grow. We can use adversity as a tool to learn and use that towards success. Whether that be in athletics, a career path, or in life itself.

Spiritually- Adversity can be seen as testing and trials. As seen in Christianity, trials and testing are a way we can grow closer to God. The trust in God through adversity grows in faith in his promises. Also in Christianity, stories from the bible can be examples of how adversity led to good. The story of Paul shows how his adversity proved better for the moving of Gods word. He was persecuted for proclaiming and spreading the word of Jesus. But through this he still spread the gospel and is known for 13 books of the Bible, many being the letters to the churches found in the New Testament.

There are many examples across the world in different peoples life. Many examples are seen in the form of inventors, athletes, and inspirational figures from today and in history. For example, Walt Disney is famous for creating Disney in the 20th century. His career started with adversity. He was fired from a newspaper for not having enough imagination and creativity. After that he drove Disney’s animation studio, Laugh-O-Gram, into bankruptcy. Through those two events he persevered and created some of the most well recognized characters and movies. Later on to become a huge company across the world today. It was through the adversity that he learned from mistakes to better his career.

Adversity in a psychological sense is widely seen as building character. Instead of actual beneficial events that can come from adversity, our attitude toward a subject or our perspective towards our situation or life in general. Adversity gives a sense of experience on how to live our lives once we come out of the hardship. It also reminds of us the limits of control that we have over life. We cannot control a lot of things and adversity can be a reminder of that. Adversity and hardships can be a learning experience or something that we can look back on to know what we can do better.

Hemingway, Ernest. “A Farewell to Arms”. Scribner, 1957

John Kingsley, Linkedin, January 2, 2020, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/perseverance-ability-keep-going-face-adversi... . 26 August 2023.