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Life is Fine


Adversity is an issue that most individuals face several, if not, many times throughout their lives. It's a mere issue, almost a dignified rite of passage in certain situations that form the people we are, and have become, while creating the history and recording the journey we have traveled. Adversity is a double-edged sword that tears us down, strips us of our pride, our arrogance, and our false pillars in life, while sculpting a new individual, and uncovering new wonders never known by yourself.

"Adversity introduces a man to himself", is how the quote so often is told.

And while that is often very true, adversity can also introduce a man to life.

In a world today when adversity has become the universal adjective to describe the current times due to economic strife, the word almost becomes diluted. Weak. Ineffective in describing the difficulty.

An uphill battle begins to control our lives. The urgency settles in, causing chaos. Disrupting dreams. Making a home for fear. From Wall Street to Main Street, to the Farms and the Mountains. To replace the missing jobs. To overcome the rising cost in living. To seek out better health care. To provide better education. To want a better tomorrow. A brighter, and easier tomorrow.

This has become our adversity. Life is our current adversity.

And despite the range of effort and exertion we extend ourselves to meet and overcome our adversity, it is important to realize the lessons learned about yourself, but more importantly the lesson learned about life.

And that is, Life is fine.

I went down to the river,
I set down on the bank.
I tried to think but couldn't,
So I jumped in and sank.

I came up once and hollered!
I came up twice and cried!
If that water hadn't a-been so cold
I might've sunk and died.

But it was Cold in that water! It was cold!

I took the elevator
Sixteen floors above the ground.
I thought about my baby
And thought I would jump down.

I stood there and I hollered!
I stood there and I cried!
If it hadn't a-been so high
I might've jumped and died.

But it was High up there! It was high!

So since I'm still here livin',
I guess I will live on.
I could've died for love--
But for livin' I was born

Though you may hear me holler,
And you may see me cry--
I'll be dogged, sweet baby,
If you gonna see me die.

Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine!

-Langston Hughes
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