THROUGH HARDSHIP, TO THE STARS
The March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake was the most powerful known earthquake ever to have hit Japan, and one of the five most powerful in the world since 1900. The earthquake triggered a tsunami whose waves reached heights of 133 feet and travelled 10 kilometres inland. The tsunami then caused a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Losses were estimated at $200 billion.
One might imagine that any country which has been dealt such a shattering blow would never be able to return to its former glory. But this is far from true, for only one year since, Japan is not only far along on the road to recovery, but is still the world’s third largest economy, and the fourth fastest growing.
Japan still figures most prominently of all on the world manufacturing and industrial scene. It is a hive of commercial activity, which is even more remarkable considering that industry in Japan began from scratch long after other developed nations, and after the destruction left behind by World War II, and that Japan has no natural resources to speak of.
It is not ease, but effort; not facility, but difficulty, which makes a man.
In life, the most important thing is the will to act. Had the Japanese succumbed to a sense of loss and frustration, and frittered their energy away, their country would have not have risen from the ashes as it has in the past, and will in the future. They have conquered their setbacks and set about reconstructing their nation. Earthquakes have brought the Japanese people death and destruction, but the Japanese have always resolutely set about rebuilding their lives afterwards.
In such situations of hardship, if we have the will, all our hidden potential is brought to the fore. We think better, plan better and make greater efforts to bring those plans to fruition. Anyone who lacks the will is like an idling motor, burning fuel and going nowhere.
Complacency and a sense of luxury can be even greater subverting factors that affect progress, than despair and devastation. By no means does this imply that adversity is itself beneficial. It is not. But it can be the spark which ignites the fuel of our souls and drives us onwards to greater things. It can be the source of our initiative and the force which drives us forward. In the face of adversity, our hidden capacities come to the fore and it becomes possible for us to reach heights we have never dreamed of. But for all this, there has to be the will to do so. There has to be the will to stop wallowing in self-pity and to take action.
In situations of hardship, all our hidden potential is brought to the fore.
It is not ease, but effort; not facility, but difficulty, which makes a man. Per ardua ad astra. Through hardship, to the stars.
God has placed unpleasant things
alongside the pleasant things of life.
Just as the rose bush, along with its
exquisite flowers, also possesses piercing thorns,
so also does life contain an amalgam of both
pleasing and displeasing objects.
This is the way God has created the world.
There is nothing for us to do but to fit in
with this order of nature that He has laid down.
Much as we may try, it is impossible for us
to have things any other way.