A friend of mine, sadly, was recently attacked outside his apartment complex. He was walking with a mutual friend who was out walking her small dog. Suddenly, with no warning, they were jumped by 3 guys while a 4th was in the “get-away car.” My friend was roughed up a bit, but has pulled through. Nonetheless, it was a traumatic experience for both of them. Not surprising, huh?
Life does not play fair, does it? In so many ways, we experience adversity in our lives much like my friend. We’re just minding our own business and BOOM, we lose our job, get a failing grade, experience betrayal, fight with our loved one, find out about a surprise death, have car issues costing us money we don’t have, etc. Just like my friend, life leaps out from behind bushes, grabs you, puts you in a headlock and proceeds to beat you down.
What do you do?
Well, my friend is pretty tough. He leapt to his feet and in the ensuing seconds, presented enough of a deterrent that they weren’t robbed and our female friend was safe (and so was the dog, perhaps the target behind the attempted theft). Later, he told me this in an email, “Guess who is still standing and is still on their feet. We are.” Yeah!!
What about you? Really, the only two options upon being knocked down by life are Get Up or Give Up. All other thoughts rest on those two ideas.
John Adams, our Second President, reflected on this issue of adversity in a letter in the 1760s to a friend. He was speaking about the forefathers, the first colonists who had come over 125 years before his time. At many moments, they could have simply given up when confronted with the challenges of their lives. They did not and for a very good reason. Here’s what he said:
“Let us recollect and impress upon our souls the views and ends of our more immediate forefathers, in exchanging their native country for a dreary, inhospitable wilderness. . .Recollect their amazing fortitude, their bitter sufferings. . .they patiently endured. Recollect the civil and religious principles and hopes and expectations which constantly supported and carried them through all hardships with patience and resignation. Let us recollect it was liberty, the hope of liberty, for themselves and us and ours, which conquered all discouragements, dangers and trials.
— A Dissertation on the Canon and the Feudal Laws, August 12, 1765
John Adams was living at would turn out to be the beginning of tumultuous times of his own, times that later would lead to his rise to the Presidency in 1796. He would come to find out deeply about “bitter sufferings” as would the many other founders, those men and women who were alive in the 1760-1800 period. Note what he says though–these early heroes were thinking ahead, of the future. They knew that if they did not persevere, if they did not get back up, then the future of hope was lost for them and their future children.
While you may not feel that your issues are “nation building” stuff, but in one sense, what you face (that issue with your friend, that grade problem, that dream deterred) is exactly like the first colonists. They were regular folks like you and me. They cried when they hurt. They dreamed big and worked hard to get there. In one sense, their ideas are EXACTLY what should drive us to GET BACK UP when knocked down. They knew that their lives depended on it. And, they realized that their future children were counting on them.
Nope, life does not play fair and we could all recount the many times we’ve been hurt, cheated, betrayed or let down. Guess what? That’s in the past. Let it go! Rise again. Plan new goals. Move forward confidently in the face of your adversary. Live boldly through your fears and tears. Do it because your life depends on it and the life of your future descendants depends on it.
My friend has made it through. He’s wounded right now. Yet, he is on this feet and moving forward regardless of the attack and the disappointments.
What about you? As we experience the 231st birthday of this great nation, let the early founders, mostly nameless regular people like me and you, give you courage and confidence.
Get back up.