Adversity

The following is a semantic examination with the intention of producing a little clarity on the state of the universe. Yay, belly button gazing.

Got into an interesting conversation with on the subject of enemas which ambled over to fasting, and from there to hardship v challenge. I commented that there are alot of white american fags bewailing their suffering, who could use a bit of perspective on suffering. One of the I have fasted is to keep things in perspective. I haven’t fasted in years, and it has nothing to do with losing weight for me, pipe down.

But fasting is challenge, starving out of poverty or general famine is a hardship. I’m prone to seeking out challenges, but haven’t really known hardship, with the possible exception of some childhood social adversity, but how much of that was really just growing up, which everyone goes through?

And what makes adversity hardship? It has to be consequentially unpleasant. Moles are not hardship, but malignant tumors are. It has to be either impossible or nearly so to resolve with the resources available. Going hungry when you could easily be doing otherwise is not hardship.

A challenge is an exploration of one’s capabilities which may or may not be voluntary. If I’m seriously trying to get a better time on my 100 fly, that’s a challenge. If I’m dropped in the wilderness for a month to survive as best I can, that’s a challenge whether I set it up for myself, or I was placed in the situation involuntarily. Some challenges, one can decline, for example refusing a promotion. Others one can avoid like the swim practices I skipped in my youth or ignore like the communicational challenges in any relationship.

While hardships are not necessarily challenges, I believe that dealing with any hardship can be a challenge. I think that attempted challenges are the major source of personal growth. Which is probably the most important thing in life to my mind.

Let’s get back to that whiny honky fag thing. Actually, this isn’t a just a gay thing or a white thing or I’d be willing to bet even an American thing. Not even close. Here’s my point, life contains suck in varying amounts for everyone. It’s important to have perspective on what is serious suck, and what is minor. If you have good health, sufficient nutrition, decent shelter, security, friends, and a reasonable expectation of the continuation of the above, my heart does not bleed for your suffering. That’s not to say that some dot.com billionaires-no-longer didn’t experience great difficulty in adjusting to a less expensive lifestyle, but if you ask me, to call that hardship cheapens the word.

Which is also not to say that if hardship isn’t involved, it’s not worth bothering with, but let’s be honest. The absence of gay marriage is not in and of itself a hardship. And only for a very few of us will it ever cause real hardship or loss.

Orthogonal point: Good and bad aren’t opposites. They’re independent variables. For example, a heavy workout regime generally involves pain and endorphin highs. Sitting at one’s desk involves neither. It can also result in better endurance, improved cardiovascular performance, a hot body, muscle strain, ligament/tendon damage, and/or asthma attacks. Again, desk-sitting is unlikely to induce any of the above. Your suffering does not cancel your joy, nor vice-versa. And in this sense, I prefer a high intensity life. High joy. High sorrow.