I have a beautiful friend. She is the single-parent of two equally beautiful daughters. Her husband left when the second was born with special needs.
Coincidentally, my neighbor is a single father of two. His wife left him, choosing a life of drugs over a life of responsibility.
My guess is you will never hear the names of these two amazing individuals. You’ll probably never read their blogs or follow them on Facebook. And their faces will probably never be on the cover of a magazine. But I can tell you, without a doubt in my mind, they both work harder at life than I do.
This past Saturday, I got up early to do some work on a new book. In the early morning hours while the sun was still rising, I drove to a quiet location to write. Enroute, I passed a young man, significantly overweight, out jogging. He was sweating profusely. And I was inspired because of it.
His body-shape isn’t the type you’ll see on posters in the local fitness center. But here was a guy, up early on a Saturday morning, working hard to change his life while most of my neighbors were still sleeping.
One more story.
Last week, a colleague of mine led a funeral for a friend who had recently died of a drug overdose. The deceased was a young man who had been born addicted to heroin.
Through no fault of his own but because of the actions of his mother, he waged war against addiction every day of his life. Some days, he won. Some days, he lost. In the end, it took his life.
As my colleague shared his story, he summed it up this way:
Our lost friend will, unfortunately, be remembered by most as a drug addict. But that’s not the man I knew. Quite the opposite in fact. I will remember forever my friend as the man who fought endlessly against an addiction unfairly passed onto him. I will remember him as a man who worked hard to make the most of a bad situation.
Our world loves to glorify beautiful people. We look up to and praise those who have seemingly accomplished much in visible measures. We lift up as role models and examples those who excel in sports, write books, own the stage, or excel in business and politics. And I don’t want to look down on those accomplishments and those examples, there is much we can learn from them.
But let’s face it: Life can also be messy. And not everybody gets to live in the limelight as one of the beautiful people. Some people find themselves struggling to just tread water through very difficult circumstances.
Sometimes, the trials we face in life are a result of our own doing. Sometimes they are a result of a wrong committed against us. But there is little doubt we are surrounded by people facing unfair circumstances in every direction we look.
And many of them, those fighting to make the most of it, deserve our respect and our praise. But they are often overlooked by a society that often praises all the wrong measures of success.
So allow me today… in my own small little way… to recognize those of you who are working hard to make the best of a bad situation. We see you and we applaud you.
Here’s to those of you raising kids without the support of a responsible partner.
Here’s to those of you striving to overcome the cycle of poverty or addiction in your family.
Here’s to those of you working two jobs to provide your children with more opportunity than you had growing up.
Here’s to those of you working to change the unhealthy habits that have defined your life for too long.
Here’s to those of you who have been treated unfairly in the workplace and are working hard to start again.
Here’s to those of you battling a disease that seeks to destroy your body.
Here’s to those of you caring faithfully for a loved one who is nearing the end.
Here’s to those of you who have been knocked down by life, but are staggering to get back up.
We see you and we applaud you.
Not only that, we also thank you. Thank you for inspiring us. And thank you for working hard to make life better—not just for yourself, but for those closest to you. We need more people like you in our world.
The article is enriching. However, I believe it’s apt to entitle this as Here’s to All of You Trying to Make the Most of a Challenging Situation. Personally I don’t perceive it is a bad situation when you are being enriched by life’s profound values, when you are in the midst of a challenging situation. A bad situation is such a general term which denotes a negative aspect where no good will result out of it. But I don’t think that is what life wants to teach us. Moreover these kind of situations are blessings in disguise for the incomparable wisdom and lessons we could all learn from, and in turn where other people could be inspired and be hopeful in life.
Love. What. You. Said.
Cancer at age 32 is absolutely not a blessing in disguise
“Life is often a series of incredible opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.” by Charles Swindoll
Well that sure attempts to make the bad situations squeaky clean. Let’s leave that declaration to those in them when they’re ready to call it something else. Maybe you’ve had a bad situation turn into something better. Good for you. No need to victim shame others.
Here’s to those who are striving to age with grace and relevance, in spite of losing spouses, peers and loved ones, bodies that betray, change of living situations, loneliness and major life transitions.
Here’s to those parents who dream of a world that loves and accepts their child with special needs; who work tirelessly to meet the medical, emotional, social and educational needs of their beloved child, all while navigating the demands of home, work and life.
I love this
Here’s to the kids who struggle at school because they have ADHD or some other issue that makes it difficult for them to focus or retain information. How hard it must be on their self-esteem to try and try when they see their friends getting much better grades with half the effort. Please don’t give up!! ❤️❤️❤️
How many times do we look at those who have overcome not realizing the battle they faced and assuming it has been easy for them? Let’s honor others with the understanding that we are meant to be overcomers and the battle is part of the victory.
What a wonderful article. Teared up a little while reading the “Here’s to…” part. ❤️
This article has so much heart and truth in it! As a society we do praise the rich, beautiful, powerful and blessed rather than those with grit, fortitude and willpower. Life is tough and it’s important to Recognize that truth for others and honouring their efforts is praiseworthy! I had tears over this one…everyday heroes.
❤️
Thank you for this post, Joshua. I’m in tears after reading it. It has been a difficult day and I needed this reminder that, like God, there are those who see the small things, and they are precious.
A nice recognition of the quietly struggling people all around us. Please consider editing your comment on the addicted wife you mentioned, the addicted brain is far more complicated than her making a choice, although I grieve for her family at this moment.
Sometimes people are knocked down by the disease of addiction, which possibly developed after years of unhealthy habits, and which is destroying or has destroyed their life. Nobody sets out to become an addict. Your neighbor’s wife may be trying to chose her family over drugs, let’s hope she finds peace.
It is truly what is important in our life that we need to give attention to.
Beautiful and so true. Even if it is not the same, I would like to add the architect who had planned a perfect floor plan for my friends’ familys apartment. So smart, it really did the best out of a small area. It is not a known architect with a big name and a big salary. It is somebody who cares about the people who are going to live in the apartments s/he plans.