It has been way too long since the last time that I wrote
one of these, and I don’t like it at all. So here it goes. Please bear with me,
this first one back might be a little slow and it may not be my best.
Something that every person goes through in life is
adversity. There are so many possible ways for people to encounter adversity
that there is no way of naming them all. I’ve seen my fair share of adversity
and struggles, but I believe that I have gotten stronger because of them. Think
of all of the successful people that were faced with adversity and despite the
fact that the odds were stacked up against them they overcame those
adversities. Jackie Robinson. The 2004 Boston Red Sox. Yasiel Puig. Sorry for them
all being baseball references, but you have to stick to something that you know
a lot about and that you love. Now let me talk about those references, because
just mentioning them doesn’t do them justice.
Jackie Robinson, number 42, the first black baseball player
in the Major Leagues will always be remembered for his contribution to
America’s game despite the adversity and hatred that he received in the
beginning. There had never been anyone like him on a major league baseball
field; and by that I mean a black man and also a man that was so strong that he
could take the hatred and put every single person doubting him or hating him in
their place. Branch Rickey certainly picked the best black player to break the
color barrier, and without that choice baseball would not be what it is today.
Not only was Jackie a great player, but he had to brush off all of the
negativity forced upon him in order to play a game that everyone else in the
league played and were dubbed heroes. Not many people could have imagined that
a young black man playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers would be the greatest hero
of them all. Adversity changed that man’s life, and that man changed the game
of baseball for good.
Next there’s the 2004 Boston Red Sox World Series Champions,
the idiots, a Red Sox team that made history and destroyed the dreaded Curse of
the Bambino. For 86 years they failed year after year to take that beloved
trophy home, and it seemed like they might not ever win it again. With a team
of misfits, it was obvious that people doubted that they would even make the
playoffs, but they did. Fast forward to the ALCS series against their rival,
the New York Yankees. Of course, everyone already thought that the Red Sox were
the underdog in this series, and even more so after they went down 3 games to
0. With more pressure and more doubt put on them, they won game 4, and game 5,
and game 6, and game 7. They were the first team to ever come back from a 3-0
deficit in a series and win. I remember watching it as a 10 year old in
amazement. After that happened, most of the doubters jumped on the bandwagon
and the Red Sox kept rolling to a sweep of the Cardinals in the World Series.
The curse was broken, and the adversity was overcome. The adversity helped fuel
that team of idiots, because they just wanted to prove everyone wrong and to
put the Curse of the Bambino to the grave.
Then there is Yasiel Puig, a Cuban born rookie outfielder
for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He worked his way all the way through the Dodgers
farm system, tearing it up at every level and then finally got a chance at the
big show. I remember people saying that he was too cocky, that he would never
make it in the majors. Puig soon put those people to shame by backing up his
cocky attitude and putting together a tremendous season. He was a big part in
leading the Dodgers to an unbelievable second half of the season putting them
in the playoffs. There are so many things that he had to overcome and so many
reasons that he had to prove himself. He’s Cuban and Cubans are known to be
very good, so he had to live up to the hype. Being cocky, he had to prove that
he was cocky for a reason. He had to show that his success in all of the Minor
League levels wasn’t a fluke and that he was the real deal. This rookie used all
of the adversity and doubt thrown at him to give him a reason to hit every
pitch that was thrown at him. He took the adversity and he used it to make
himself a better player.
Personally, I respect people that overcome adversity to
accomplish goals and aspirations. I hope to one day become one of those people,
but I still have a lot of work ahead of me. In high school, my sophomore year,
my varsity baseball coach gathered the team and told us to our faces that none
of us would play college baseball. At first, I thought about it and being 5’8”
and a pitcher I figured that he was right. I couldn’t believe that a coach
would ever say that to his players, but somehow I change my mindset completely
and it made me work so much harder. I just wanted to show him and myself that
he was completely wrong and that I could play at a higher level. A couple of
other guys and I proved him wrong. Now, here I am pitching at Gordon College, a
team that currently has adversity of its own. We have so many people on this
campus and beyond to prove ourselves to. We not only have the task of proving
that we can beat any team in our conference and that they can’t take us
lightly, but we also have the task of proving to the faculty and students here
at Gordon that we are good young men and that there is no reason for them to
hate us. I am anxious to see how my team overcomes this adversity.
Adversity is inevitable in life. There is no reason to run
from it, because it so much more satisfying to use it to become a better
person. Even when you feel like the world is against you, you need to keep
pushing through it and do whatever you need to in order to accomplish the task
of extinguishing the fire that is adversity. If you have the right mindset, you
can and will prove people wrong. Never forget that although you think that your
adversity is hard, there are people that have been faced with 10X harder
adversity and have overcome it. Be strong, and carry on, for you have a goal in
front of you and you cannot stop until you reach it.
-Eric Proulx #7
