The spirit of human endurance

Our environment dicates most of the decisions we make. “Good people” can make bad decisions in a poor environment. “Bad people” can make good decisions in a rich environment. Malcolm Gladwell cites the Good Samaritan Study to explain how simply opening more time up in your day will affect how willing you are to help someone who needs to be helped.

It’s true. Extreme poverty and political unrest have cripple many people in their environment. Imagine being blindfolded, gagged and tied to a chair. What choices are left?

I think we always have one available to us. It’s our ability to choose our attitudes. We still have the ability to discern what is right and wrong despite our circumstances, despite our environment.

Viktor Frankl has beautifully pointed this out in his essential book, Man’s Search for Meaning, “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

That is the spirit of human endurance. It’s not, “What can life offer me?” No. It’s, “What can I offer life?” Whatever it is you are trying to overcome, it won’t be over in an instance. It’s a marathon not a sprint. So figure out where it is you are going to put the tired.

If you have a laptop and an internet connection, you have more power than you think. You have the ability to choose your own way.