ADVERSITY

There was a young boy in the heart of America named Jackson. 

Jackson grew up with everything he could ever want. His own room, his own bed, a plethora of all of his favorite snacks and movies available to him 24/7. 

Rules and discipline were practically nonexistent in Jackson’s life. A car given to him by his grandmother on his 16th birthday was replaced with a new one when Jackson totaled his original gift doing donuts in the UltraZone LaserTag parking lot.

His subpar grades and mediocre work ethic were seldom acknowledged, nor was he ever reprimanded for them. 

So Jackson never really tried in school, or in anything for that matter. As you can imagine, he took his luxurious upbringing completely for granted.

—

A few years ago, while Jackson was skipping a lecture that his parents paid a sizable amount of money for him to attend, he heard a man on TV talking about “adversity.” 

Jackson had never heard of this term before. 

What is this adversity you speak of? What does that word even mean? Difficulties? Misfortune? These were concepts unfamiliar to the 21-year-old.

Apparently, some people fight through their problems even when it is difficult or challenging to do so. This, to Jackson, didn’t make any sense.

When things get too hard or too uncomfortable, you simply give up and watch Family Guy instead. Why deal with “adversity” when you can solve the problem by deciding not to face it? This is a simple and effective method that Jackson had employed diligently for the entire duration of his 21 years on earth, never once facing a repercussion for doing so. He famously dubbed this method, “flawless conflict resolution.” Whenever life came to a fight or flight scenario- Jackson would usually decide to go with Option #3: Watch Family Guy.

Jackson learned from a young age that there never have been- nor will there ever be- any consequences for just giving up and doing something easier and more enjoyable. 

—

Now Jackson, with his television paused, uncharacteristically put down his afternoon bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and thought about this “adversity” thing for a second. He closed his eyes and tried to remember some of the more difficult moments of his life.

Jackson recalled a time in which he was forced to share a hotel room with his brother at the all inclusive resort they stayed at in Cozumel. Did that count as adversity? He also remembered being dragged to Florida for spring break while most of his other friends were in Spain, which is obviously a considerably better vacation destination. For an entire week, he sat there on his balcony, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, having to watch Snapchat stories of the Mediterranean. This, in his terms, was agonizing. 

So, maybe Jackson did in fact know a thing or two about difficulties and misfortune. After all, his family rents their cabin, they do not own it. 

Although he was still doubting whether or not this idea of “having to face your problems” was actually real, Jackson was fascinated, so he decided that he wanted to learn more about it.

Doing as anyone looking for knowledge on a particular subject would do, he reached out to a group of people with the most experience. 

We’re talking about a collection of people that fight for their basic rights every single day, and are unfairly targeted and attacked by nearly everyone else on the planet. In fact, this demographic faces SO MUCH adversity that they are forced to constantly remind everyone else around them about how much adversity they face. 

That demographic, of course… is young, white, American women. 

To Be Continued…