During the 46th POTUS inauguration, this tweet really caught my eye. A cursory glance at Joe Biden's life reveals a lot of tragedy and heartbreak - losing a spouse, a baby daughter, an adult son and a severe stuttering condition in childhood among other things. I don't know how people can function losing one let alone 2 children. Even in his professional life, before this point, he had 2 failed presidential campaigns and till the very last moment of the 2020 primary campaign, the media had completely written him off as an ancient, uninspiring gaffe prone candidate. His ascent to presidency at the age of 78 has to be one of the most underrated, unglamorous stories of grit and resilience. There have been a couple of viral videos of his where during townhalls, people ask him about overcoming grief ...about overcoming a confidence crushing condition that you are born with or cannot help (stutter in his case). The humanity and empathy with which he has addressed those questions is remarkable. He's like that comforting grandpa who reassures you that things are gonna be ok even if it feels otherwise. And when a person who has endured the kind of pain in life that he has, says that things are going to be okay, you can't help but believe him.
This begs the question - How does one not get crushed by the weight of shit that life often throws at you? How do you not get completely consumed and overwhelmed by life's difficulties? I think this is a question, I will spend a lifetime trying to get an answer to. Even current affairs can be very depressing. 2020 especially felt like being hit by a firehose of bad news on a daily basis. How do you not get disillusioned by world we live in?
I have some half baked theories on this which I will pen down and revisit every once in a while.
A part of it is to do with finding purpose in life larger than one self. Engaging in activities you find meaning in. Building and investing in meaningful relationships that help weather pretty nasty storms.
Another major part of it which is tough to explain and way more difficult to adopt is to get out of your head (something that needs way too many reminders to sink in even partially). When you view the world through just the myopic lens of your struggle , you fail to realize that not only is there a lot of suffering outside your small bubble, but more importantly there is a lot of overcoming of it too. If I talk from personal experience, I worked for about 1.5 years at a non profit that aimed at empowering underprivileged, adolescent girls to be more self reliant. The kind of stories I heard of the economic difficulties and social constraints that women from underserved sections of society face that stop them from achieving their true potential were gut wrenching. But at the same time, day in and day out, I would see the kind of drive, the determination and hope that these girls mustered to overcome some of the toughest circumstances and get jobs or pursue higher studies and even better, enlighten their communities with knowledge and skills (like financial literacy and digital skills) that improved quality of living. Also, I was exposed to some of the most ethical, compassionate and intelligent people who busted their ass to make people's lives better and who I was privileged to call my colleagues in my short stint which was a direct counter to the narrative that I had gleaned from the news that everything in this world is shitty and there is no hope.
At a time, where the public needs to hear more stories of people overcoming odds and the good that exists in society, most unfortunately, 24X7 news and social media is designed to give disproportionate attention to the flamboyant provocateurs, the lunatics, showboats, the radicals and the people who want to burn the system down. What our media miserably fails to highlight is the contribution of countless nameless and faceless behind the scenes people who do the drudge work to improve people's lives and solve their problems - the policy wonks, the social workers, nurses, teachers, etc. I think is this internal realization that there is lot of overcoming of suffering in the world or atleast an attempt at it is important because the next time life throws curveballs at you, you can take comfort or find motivation in the fact that you're not the only one getting hit and can eventually find the strength to get back up, duck and move forward.
