Civil Rights Adversity

Arguably one of the greatest inspirational and impactful leaders, Martin Luther King Jr, faced tremendous adversity. The efforts of this one individual created a path for change that affected a country and ultimately altered the world. Opportunity was created for millions of Americans where it had not existed before. Dr. King has a lasting legacy, all due to adversity which plagued an entire race. His accomplishments illustrate the epitome of how adversity can create opportunity. He led by example while seeking equality for all people. Think about the adversity you face in your daily life, how can you overcome it?

Disability and Adversity

Aimee Mullins, an accomplished athlete, actress, and model, demonstrates in this TED Talk the power of words to define people. She also speaks about living with a disability and how she has overcome adversity. In particular, she reveals the problem with defining adversity as something to be overcome and the way society has made “disabled” synonymous with disadvantaged. Below is a transcript from her speech:

“The human ability to adapt, it’s an interesting thing, because people have continually wanted to talk to me about overcoming adversity, and I’m going to make an admission: This phrase never sat right with me, and I always felt uneasy trying to answer people’s questions about it, and I think I’m starting to figure out why. Implicit in this phrase of “overcoming adversity” is the idea that success, or happiness, is about emerging on the other side of a challenging experience unscathed or unmarked by the experience, as if my successes in life have come about from an ability to sidestep or circumnavigate the presumed pitfalls of a life with prosthetics, or what other people perceive as my disability. But, in fact, we are changed. We are marked, of course, by a challenge, whether physically, emotionally or both. And I’m going to suggest that this is a good thing. Adversity isn’t an obstacle that we need to get around in order to resume living our life. It’s part of our life. And I tend to think of it like my shadow. Sometimes I see a lot of it, sometimes there’s very little, but it’s always with me. And, certainly, I’m not trying to diminish the impact, the weight, of a person’s struggle.”

I think Mullins describes adversity in a way which is empowering rather than debilitating. She also emphasizes the fact that everyone experiences adversity and that you cannot experience adversity and walk away unchanged. It takes its toll on you, but the key is to approach it as a learning experience and grow in positive ways. Although it is often difficult in the moment of adversity to see it as positive, falling into despair is giving up an opportunity to grow as an individual.

Overcoming Adversity

If you have a moment, I would recommend watching this video. It does a terrific job characterizing the choice people who face adversity must make. Adversity takes many forms and affects people in various ways, but through that process you are changed some way. The choice which must be made is between letting that challenge, obstacle, experience control your life; or, recognizing that you have the power to decide how to live your life and not the event that altered it. Many times people feel overwhelmed with the challenges caused by the adversity they face. They look at the world more negatively because of the challenges they must endure daily; however, to look at the world negatively is a choice. Things may not be as easy as they were before you were affected by adversity but that doesn’t change the fact you have the choice to alter you life. In my case, I felt alone and angry at the world–that it wasn’t fair, why was this happening to me. But I changed that outlook to something positive. I used my adversity as my motivation, to push myself further and harder than I could have though possible months earlier. No one says it is easy, but hopefully, if you are experiencing adversity, this video can help push you to turn the negative into something positive as well.

Beat The Odds Scholarship Program

The Beat the Odds program originally began in 1990 by the Children’s Defense Fund. This program serves to honor and reward students who have faced significant adversity in their lives with scholarships each year. Beat the Odds sends a message to these “at-risk” youth that they are valued and supported by their community. When the awards are presented, the recipients are introduced by the adult that has been significant to them during their struggles or their academic career. This emotionally moving event highlights the fact that a struggling person’s success starts with having someone believing in and supporting them.

The stories related to these young people’s challenges are diverse ranging from abuse, foster care, poverty, physical disabilities, homelessness and more. Although their experiences are unique, the message throughout is that these individuals have “beat the odds”. Some of the stories and photos of past recipients can be found at Beat the Odds Loudoun Awards.

Family Abduction

Yesterday, I mentioned the impact of the Amber Alert System which you can access here. There was a kidnapping of a five-year-old girl by her aunt. Twenty-seven minutes after the Amber Alert was issued the child was found and the aunt arrested. When I first heard the story, I thought to myself “why would an aunt, or for that matter, any family member abduct another relative?” According to StopFamilyAbductionsNow.org, abduction by a family member occurs in over 205,000 families per year. So, if it is so prevalent, why does it happen?

Kidnapping or the abduction of a child by a family member can happen for many reasons. Sometimes, the parent of a child in a situation involving domestic violence may flee in an effort to protect the child from harm. Abduction of a child also occurs during custody disputes. One parent may decide it is best to keep the child from the other parent and choose to go on the run. Often times, it may even be a family member that kidnaps the child in an effort to keep them from one of the parents. An increased risk of child abduction occurs due to many factors including an ongoing custody dispute, a history of the parent suffering from serious mental health issues, or when the parent is a citizen of another country and may feel alienated from the local legal system.

This is a serious crime and the degree of the response to these situations often depends on the local jurisdiction. It can hinge on whether there is a custody order in place and if there is shared custody. It is possible that there are waiting periods before law enforcement officials will get involved in these cases. In these situations, the delay allows the time for the individual to leave the area, state or country with the child. The Amber Alert is commonly associated with the abduction of a child by a stranger, but clearly there are many times this situation involves the kidnapping of a child by a family member. The child in these situations often initially has no idea that they are even being abducted, however, the long-term effects are serious and damaging. Kidnapping a child carries severe legal consequences and the individual often faces loss of custodial rights and possible imprisonment.

Sources:

“About_abduction.” About_abduction. N.p., 2004. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. <http://www.stopfamilyabductionsnow.org/about_abduction.html&gt;.

Johnston, Janet R., Inger Sagatun-Edwards, Martha-Elin Blomquist, and Linda K. Girdner. “Juvenile Justice Bulletin.” National Criminal Justice Reference Service. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Mar. 2001. Web. 22 Feb. 2014. <https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/185026.pdf&gt;.

What Is Adversity?

Inevitable

retrieved from morguefile.com

The defining characteristic of life is the adversity we face as individuals. It shapes the people we become by providing avenues and choices which show the merits of dedication, perseverance, and willpower. These inescapable obstacles range from the trivial to the seemingly insurmountable. This blog focuses on the challenges of life which seem overwhelming, defeating, and unfair. These individuals must ultimately make a choice to feel victimized or rise to the challenge life presents them as a survivor. The choice they make defines their perspective of life. It can help define and strengthen their character as well as will, or make them feel helpless, isolated, and possibly even persecuted.  These comments are not written as fact, yet they hold an element of truth both in my experience and the stories of individuals who have faced these types of inescapable and defining challenges.

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