Adversity homework essay help Healthcare assignment help

They fought every game and never quit on themselves or each other, because giving up was not considered an option. Although they went 0-9, they were not seen as a failure because they defied all odds and finished out the season. Now look ahead to the 2012 Andover High School football team: a team faced with a similar situation and they did not make it past the third game. This was not due to a smaller team or larger opponents, not anything close. It was due to the fact that these players had quit in them from the start; they simply could not handle the difficulty of the situation in front of them (Nicholas).

If you walk around on the street and ask people what adversity means to them, most will tell you that it is an unfortunate situation that people face, however, there is another way of looking at it, an opportunity; an opportunity to become great. The clearest way to notice an adverse situation and how people overcome them is through an examination of the sports world. As William Arthur Ward once said, “Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records,” and that is exactly the difference between regularity and greatness (“Brainy Quote”).

If you look at any Hall of Fame athlete, or any athlete that we consider to have achieved greatness, you will notice that they all have one thing in common; the ability to persevere through any obstacle. Every great athlete has had to overcome at least one major setback over the course of his or her career that would define his or her legacy, and the greatest have had to overcome multiple. “I have missed more than 4000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed.

I have failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed,” (“SearchQuotes”). Not only did Michael Jordan have to face all of these failures throughout his professional career that would break most players spirits, but he also did not make his varsity basketball team in high school: a seemingly impossible obstacle to overcome. Nonetheless, that is why he is considered by everyone to be the greatest basketball player of all time, because he was able to overcome what others could not. Greatness does not have to be an individual accomplishment, as is the case in the world of sports.

Teams, or even a nation, can achieve greatness in the face of adversity. Think of the United States today and what this nation has had to go through to become the word’s largest superpower and what is considered to be the greatest nation on the planet. Three hundred years ago the United States was only thirteen small colonies under strict rule of Great Britain. They were completely outnumbered in number of people and military equipment, yet they continued to fight, never giving up. “…We expected to encounter many wants and distressed… we must bear the present evils and fortitude…” (“Think Quest”).

Much like George Washington had stated in the full version of the quote above, they were faced with the ultimate adverse situation, war, and they refused to lose, no matter how many obstacles they had to overcome, and that is what made those people great. That is what makes this country great; it was built with that same backbone that allowed those people to persevere and succeed. A situation characterized by calamity can be the worst thing that can happen to someone or it can be the best, it all just depends on the individual’s attitude toward the situation.

They can use it as motivation and jump on the opportunity to be remembered much like Michael Jordan and the American Colonists, or they can roll over and quit, similar to the 2012 Andover High School football team and the thousands of other athletes that I could have used as an example but could not remember their names. One can not be afraid to face adversity because as Walt Disney once said, “…You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you,” (“Brainy Quote”). Works Cited “adversity. ” Dictionary. om Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 17 Feb. 2013. <Dictionary. com http://dictionary. reference. com/browse/adversity>. “Adversity Quotes. ” Brainy Quote. N. p.. Web. 17 Feb 2013. <http://www. brainyquote. com/quotes/keywords/adversity. html>. “George Washington. ” Think Quest . N. p.. Web. 17 Feb 2013. <http://library. thinkquest. org/TQ0312848/quotes. htm>. “Micheal Jordan Quotes. ” SearchQuote. N. p.. Web. 17 Feb 2013. <http://www. searchquotes. com/search/Michael_Jordan_Adversity/>. Nicholas, Rabah. Personal Interview. 2 13 12.