Hardships in Life

There are many hardships people face in life. Of the most difficult is adversity, the serious problems or conitnous instances of misfortunes that enter people's lives. Racial segregation, negative judgement and language barriers are a few prime examples of the most pressing cases of adversity. Its how we choose to deal with them that define our future but moreover our success.

James T. Jackson's work "Waiting in Line at the Drugstore" detailed his daily life as a 13 year old boy living in a society in the presence of racial discrimination. He was forced to wait in line until all the the "white folks" were served just to recieve his order of goods to serve his fellow employees at his work. Waiting in line he discovered a bookcase and became intrigued by the jacket covers of the books thus fell in love with literature. The presence of racial tensions in the drugstore slowly began to diminish. In James' words "Somehow I didn't feel the 'badness' that I usually felt..." Waiting in line was an important attribute to his misfortune and good fortune for he overcame the adversity of racial segregation.

In the movie "Stand and Deliver" we came accross another case of adversity. In this theatrical masterpiece we learned of Mr Escalante, a teacher who was determined to change Garfield High's standards and challange the students. Although Mr. Escalante's focus was in academics the rest of the staff was concerned with the discipline of the students. When Mr. Escalante brought his ideas of setting higher standards for the students to reach, the rest of the teachers believed it was something the students couldnt handle. Therefore the students had to ovecome the negative opinions of their authority figures while pursuing their goal to pass calculous. With the help and words of Mr. Escalante, "you are the true dreamers," they exceeded their own expectations.