Sweet Are the Uses of Adversity

5/18/2017

By Head of Upper School Greg Martin

Because I am a Shakespearean, people regularly ask me which of Shakespeare's plays is my favorite. This is always a tough question to answer because there are, of course, so many greats. Usually, I reply that I love Measure for Measure on an intellectual level because of its thorough exploration of the relationship between mercy and justice. As a teacher, Othello is an almost perfect play in a classical sense, lining up with Aristotelian observations on tragedy. The play, however, that evokes the greatest emotional response from me is As You Like It.

After being banished by their father/uncle, the evil Duke Frederick, Rosalind and Celia, two of the leading characters, disguise themselves as young men. They decide to go “to liberty and not to banishment” to the Forest of Ardennes, where Duke Senior, Rosalind’s father, is encamped, having also been expelled ruthlessly from the court by his evil brother, Duke Frederick (Confused yet? Good, that’s the idea!). When the audience first meets Duke Senior, he proclaims that, despite being banished and fighting for survival in the harsh woods of Ardennes, he has a way of seeing in this difficult time of his life, sweetness:

Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile,

Hath not old custom made this life more sweet

Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods

More free from peril than the envious court?

Here feel we but the penalty of Adam,

The seasons’ difference; as, the icy fang

And churlish chiding of the winter’s wind,

Which, when it bites and blows upon my body,

Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say

‘This is no flattery: these are counsellors

That feelingly persuade me what I am.’

Sweet are the uses of adversity,

Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,

Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;

And this our life, exempt from public haunt,

Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,

Sermons in stones, and good in everything. (2.1.1-17)

I thought it imperative to quote the entire passage; it brings tears to my eyes every time I see it performed because it embodies poetically and dramatically, the human capacity to find lessons in difficult times in our lives. Separated from his family and the people he holds dear by a power-hungry brother who listens to flattery and surrounds himself with sycophants, Duke Senior still perseveres in seeing beauty in the lessons he learns in the woods. Part of my deep emotional response to this passage is because of my love of nature and its capacity to teach us on a different plane, but an even stronger reaction comes from the idea that adversity itself, the difficult times in our lives, are “counselors,” “tongues,” “books,” and “sermons.”

Modern life urges us to avoid, at all costs, any sense of discomfort or pain, and yet, they can be our greatest teachers. As a parent, it pains me to see my children struggle and suffer, but I must steel myself to give them the gift of learning to endure such pain, which “feelingly persuades (teaches) them who they are.”

Here, I am talking about our predilection for seeing a failed test, or a playoff loss, or not getting a lead in the play as “suffering” and something we should avoid at all costs. In no way would I suggest that children should suffer serious psychological, emotional, or physical harm. Never would we want a child to endure depression, hateful bullying or serious concussions in the hopes of learning something. I hope, however, you will join me in seeing sweet uses of adversity at LJCDS as a part of the natural growth of our children. Missing a game-winning goal in the playoffs may be a “sermon” delivered on the soccer field. Having to re-write an English essay after failing it may be one of our student’s greatest “counselors.” Losing the lead in a play may be one of the best “books” a child “reads” (or “writes”!) all year.

Experience is a great teacher, yes, but adversity is one of our most cherished classrooms.

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Sweet Are the Uses of Adversity

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