<p>BB Essay Topic #9</p>
<p>Do you think that ease does not challenge us and that we need adversity to help us discover who we are?</p>
<pre><code> The world today is what you make of it. To some, it is an easy place, a place where life is a never-ending party. To others, the world is tough. There are new challenges to overcome everyday. Americans are faced with a lot of different options in life. However, it is in choosing a tough path that we are able to find ourselves.
On the TV show "Locked Up Abroad" different people find themselves in the various prisons of foreign countries. Usually, these people have done something illegal (such as smuggling illicit drugs) and have gotten arrested for it. While spending many tough years in prison, the criminals have time to contemplate their lives. When they are released, they see themselves in a different light; they 'know' themselves. Almost every person interviewed on that show has agreed that being 'locked up abroad' changed their life for the better.
Challenges force us to find solace in ourselves. When I was fourteen, my parents got a divorce. During this time both of my parents were incredibly bitter; I could not have had a cheerful conversation with my mother or my father. Between being shipped, like cargo, from one parent's house to another and balancing my schoolwork, I began to sink into depression. I battled this depression for a few months, but eventually I began to see that my parents' choices were not my fault and that life would go on. It was during this time that I discovered myself. In experiencing this adversity, I have found compassion within myself for others in similar situations.
I am a firm believer that we need to experience adversity in order to find ourselves. It is through challenge that we learn to cope, and through personal pain that we understand the pain in others. As a society, we should not try to eliminate challenges. Rather, we should focus upon what we can learn from them.
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