Adversity: Struggle Can Build Character

In the short statement by the poet Horace, he states that adversity, or struggle, can build character. “Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant.” Horace claims that in the face of hardship, one can learn, adapt and act accordingly thus awakening skills that would not be present if not faced with the tasks. This claim I believe to not only be true but to also be the reason as to why we have been able to make it so far as a species. As we grow we are taught many sayings that pertain to the need to rise above, and overcome. Quotes such as “survival ofthe fittest”, “the law of the jungle”, “eat or be eaten”, “every man for themselves”, the list goes on. And it is all these quotes that reference to one single thing, the ability to overcome. Not only us humans, but animals as well, we all have a driving force wired within us that makes us want to live. Fear, is an instinct the brain triggers when in the wake of danger and is there to prevent its own demise, and all species have learned to adapt to prevent their own fears from happening. Now although we have evolved from the more primitive days of hunting and gathering, the same ideology applies to this day. In school we try our best to outsmart our fellow peers and go above them in order to go to a better college where we then repeat the process to get a profession to then try to make a decent living. Or when a person is

I think not, for every skill a person has was developed not to achieve success but to prevent failure. And it is the skills learned from hardships and struggle that forge us into the best we could be, allowing us to learn from our mistakes and prevent them from happening again. Like the great Bill Gates, a man who himself lived a life of failures, once said, “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't