What Role Does Adversity Play In Developing A Person's Character

“Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant- Horace.” After analyzing this quotation about adversity from the Roman Poet Horace, it is evident that his assentation about the role that adversity plays in developing a person’s character is accurate because without some sort of hardships or trial majority of the celebrities and population wouldn’t have been as successful. For example, world renowned soccer players, Walt Disney, Famous authors, and more wouldn’t have been prosperous without their misfortune pushing and inspiring them to want a better life for themselves.

To begin, a famous and talented soccer player known as Zlatan Ibrahimović, who now plays for Manchester United, overcame a rough upbringing. Before he was discovered for his profession, he would steal to make up for the things his family could not afford such as

food, clothes, bikes, and etc.

For example, while growing up Zlatan had a passion for soccer but due to his financial state, couldn’t afford transportation. In result, he stole a kid’s bike down his street to ride to practice. As you can see, this hardship pushed Zlatan to desire and strive for a better future for himself. Also, not only was Zlatan poor but his parents were divorced and his dad was an alcoholic leaving only beer in his fridge for Zlatan to have for dinner. Ibrahimović shook off the shackles of poverty and discrimination to become one of the world’s greatest footballers, the captain of Sweden and a millionaire. Another example, of this is in Walt Disney’s family because they were not very wealthy nor well- off, causing Walt Disney to drop out of high school to enlist in the army. Unfortunately, he was

too young so they denied him enrollment leading him to work at a railroad station with his uncle and sell his paintings and cartoons on the side for extra cash. Walt soon found his passion for cartooning which lead him to start putting his cartoons in newspapers, starting his company, to becoming a cartoonist on TV. With this being said, Walt worked dedicating to achieve his goal of being a cartoonist despite the adversity and misfortune he was given. Without the hardship he grew up with, of having to help support his family, he would not have discovered his passion of being a cartoonist and would not have aspired and to his dream.
Secondly, having adversity in your life only makes you stronger and more determined to put your best foot forward and achieve what people once told you was impossible. For example, when I was growing up my dad would beat me and my other five siblings, and after seven years of being threatened not to tell my mother about the abuse, she found out. Soon after, my dad went to jail for all four stages of child abuse but I only suffered from three of them. Due to my dad not being present anymore, my mom worked constantly to pay for six kids causing me, at the age of ten, to have to fill the parenting roles while she was away for my other siblings. Although we moved to another parish and lived in a terribly small bedroom apartment, we made it work with what we had. Despite it being difficult to make my little brothers, who were only four and five, understand why our mommy had to work constantly, why I had to make sure they were going to bed on time, why we were living in such a tight apartment, and try to help them adapt to the circumstances we were in, we were all very grateful and jubilant to finally escape our abusive father. As you can see, this drove me to become more dedicated to my classes because not only do I know what it’s like to have everything, but I also know what it is like to have nothing except for love and the determination to succeed. Without this misfortune and tragedy, I would not have had to take on the responsibility of making dinner, doing all the laundry, dishes, chores, and tucking in my little brothers at night before my mom had gotten home from a tiresome day at work.
In conclusion, no matter what financial, political, misfortune you are facing it will drive you to be more of an understanding, humble person and bring out talents you didn’t know you had. For example, Zlatan did not let his poor financial state as a kid stop him from getting to practice on time nor becoming a famous soccer player, and Walt Disney would have never discovered his passion for cartooning if he was not forced to have to support his family causing him to have to sell his paintings for extra profit. Also, I did not let the adversity of what my dad did to my siblings and I nor the extra role of having to be a sister and the parent of my siblings at times stop me from being dedicated to my school work and aspiring in extracurricular activities. As you can see, just as Horace foretold, through adversity you will discover talents that you never knew you had because without that misfortune, they would have never been discovered.