Who among us would want to be called as a weak person? I guess there’s none. We all desire the same thing, to excel in any field that we want. Strength is often measured by how excellent we are in life. If you are a well-known entrepreneur, you are considered to be a strong businessman in the industry. If you are a gold medalist athlete, you are considered to be a strong contender. I have no doubt that they possessed the strength needed to be successful in their passion and they are indeed an inspiration to all of us.
I’m not saying that strength depends on how famous you are, a true strength is much deeper than we think. A well-known entrepreneur is once a hardworking student who spends sleepless nights to review his lessons. A gold medalist athlete is once a trainee who almost quit during his try-outs. He received lots of constructive criticisms from his coach whenever he is not performing well and used it to improve himself. Some of them came from nothing and failed many times before they succeeded in life.
Life has many twists and turns and the foundation of true strength is not giving up even if the situations are hard to handle.
It is also the ability to say sorry because apologizing is never easy. You are not only admitting your own mistakes but you are also opening yourself for the possibility that your apology will be rejected. Saying sorry doesn’t also mean that you are at fault, sometimes we are apologizing for the sake of peace. We are putting an end to an argument because we value the friendship and relationship more than our ego. Swallowing our pride will not choke us to death and it takes a strong person to say a sincere sorry.
As we learn to bow down and stay grounded, we must also learn to forgive those who have hurt us. Forgiving doesn’t make you stupid and weak; it only proves that you have the courage to set yourself free from any hatred.
To have a true strength is offering kindness even for those who are rude to you. It is easy to be nice if the person is also treating you with kindness, but showing some care to someone mean to you is another level of bravery. When someone is cursing you, you still manage to compose yourself, and pray for his soul instead of cursing back and hating him forever. It is also a form of forgiving, the only difference is that you are forgiving a person who wasn’t sorry for his rough behavior.
Only a brave man will learn to accept an apology that he never got because he still believes that everyone has their own goodness inside.
True strength is not about how many people have you beaten; it’s about how many people have you tried to understand. When someone is having a perspective that differs from yours, respect him. Our differences can usually cause a division in the human race and we have to try our best to understand each other. Unity will make humanity stronger and before it happen, we must strengthen ourselves first. Compassion, empathy, love, and faith give us the strength to conquer the negative force around us.
To be strong is not about winning every quarrel, it is the strength to stay away from a nonsense fight. We all have a true strength, what we need to do is awaken and cultivate it.
