Overcoming Adversity: The Beach Channel Dolphins

Imagine, homes destroyed, a town with no electricity, and nothing but destruction left. This was the scene for many people after hurricane Sandy touched down and swept through their city. A local high school football team, the Beach Channel Dolphins were set to go to the playoffs . Their team was scattered, some arriving late to the game and their team only had two practices prior to the big game. If anyone had an excuse to not play, it was the Dolphins, but they weren't going to let a hurricane stop them from playing. Although they lost, they proved that no matter what someone faces, he/she can persevere(Source B). The Dolphins aren’t the only ones who have faced, or are going to face adversity. We all, at some point or another, will most

“WHEN I was growing up, I would never have guessed that I could become a United States senator. Both of my parents — my father a Greek immigrant, my mother the child of immigrants — died before I was 10 years old. My aunt, who worked in a textile mill, and my uncle, who was a barber, took me in, and when my uncle died, my aunt struggled on her own to support me and my five cousins.” -(Source D)
Olympia J. Snowe’s adversity didn’t stop there. When she was twenty six, her husband, who was a government official, was killed in a car accident. Not even that stopped her; she saw an opportunity, she ran for her former husband’s job and was elected (Source D). She then worked her way up to become a senator; even with all the death she experienced, her life didn’t skip a beat. Instead of mourning she saw an opportunity to start a new life and became very successful. I doubt that many people will have that much adversity throughout their family, but we can learn from that. Seeing a problem as an opportunity and not being dragged down the hardships of the past allows everyone to move forward with his/her

He was born with no arms; his parents were in full support of him, but when it came to his job, many people doubted his ability to work. Through his work ethic and ingenuity, he was able to be a part of the best Nascar engineering team with many victories under their belt. It wasn’t a question of if he could live a normal life, just a question of how . Many people will never face such a great challenge of only having two limbs, but his story teaches many concepts about adversity. No matter what people thought, he was determined to get that job. He was able to do everything everyone else could, he was just forced to be innovative and find new ways. How many people would give up and not keep trying? Richie said, “There's not a lot of things in life that I can’t do, just things that I haven't done yet.” (Parker). It is that attitude that allowed him to push through his challenges and go forth in success. Everyone can have that attitude, and everyone can move on in life, not dwelling on his/her bad