rise

The other day I was thinking about hardships. Everyone knows they happen. Sometimes they're nasty, sometimes deadly, and sometimes they're just downright inconvenient. But what makes the difference? Well... right now I could go into the whole "severity of discomfort" spiel, but I won't. Discomfort, while sometimes physical, is many times just a mental construct. When something wretched comes along, what makes it so wretched? Most of the time it's just our own brains worrying. If the president of the United States was shot tomorrow, would there really be a good reason for me to panic? Would there really even be a good reason to stop doing what I was doing at the time?
Humans seem to think that getting angry, frustrated, or worried are good and natural responses to misfortune. They're only partly right. Getting angry, frustrated, and worried are natural responses, but they are not good. Take a look at some of the wisest figures to ever grace our history books. Ghandi is considered one of the wisest people who ever walked the sphere. What was his response to misfortune? What about Mother Theresa? Buddhist monks? Same story.
The truth is, getting angry only makes you more angry, and worrying is just silly. Morgan Freeman—playing God—delivered it very well in Evan Almighty (which surpassed my expectations...)

"When someone prays for patience, do you think God makes them patient or does He give them an opportunity to learn patience? When someone asks for courage, does God simply make them courageous or does he give them an opportunity to be brave? When someone prays for their family to be closer, does God just do it or does he give them an opportunity to spend time together?"

When something bad happens, isn't it just a chance to rise above the challenge where others would break down? If we can break our minds from the mold of anger, just look at the doors we open.