Embracing Adversity

Chapter 5

“As a final reflection, The Citadel touts itself as a leadership laboratory, and there are certainly important formative lessons taught in Charleston. For me, it was more of a perseverance laboratory. The Citadel follows the well-worn military school path of a plebe or fourth-class system affording participants an opportunity to accrue valuable “reps” and “sets” in overcoming adversity. The imposition of artificial hardship gets progressively difficult to build greater skills and confidence. The military school experience serves as a figurative “vaccination” against future fear of taking on tough challenges. Fight rather than flight is cemented into the graduates. For me it served as a natural extension from my farm foundation where as a child I often had to problem-solve things like broken equipment or missing livestock on my own.

Such adversarial environments appear to be more and more rare in the twenty-first century. Modern parents seek to shield their children from all adversity—to their detriment in my opinion. Today, too many children are rewarded for simply passing through childhood in unremarkable fashion. A premium is placed upon protection of feelings to the exclusion of gaining experience navigating adversity that makes for stronger adults. I believe parents, teachers, and mentors should encourage courageous endeavors in school, sports, hobbies, and employment—trial and error, trial and success. Most men and women value their hard-earned accomplishments over transient gifts. To strive and achieve makes one appreciate the strife and achievement. Embrace adversity and the thrill of meeting the challenge. Perseverance is still a valuable character trait—even today.”