Our weakness is our strenght

The Thinking Reed

Blaise PASCAL, the French philosopher, said that man was a “thinking reed,” that is, a fragile creature at the mercy of nature and the phenomena surrounding him. It doesn’t take all the forces of the world turning against him to break him—just a strong wind or a careless animal is enough to snap him. However, the second part of the statement is equally or even more important: we are not just any reed, we are one with thought, consciousness, and dreams. That is our strength.

Human nature is truly paradoxical. We are an animal without great physical capabilities, without claws, sharp teeth, super strength, or night vision. Drop a naked man in the jungle and, unless he is an elite soldier trained in survival techniques, it’s likely he won’t last more than a few days (with luck). Yet it is this weak animal, without claws or huge fangs, who conquered and dominated the entire world. It is us who look at the stars and do everything in our power to try to reach them. The weakest of all wild animals became the master of the world (for better or worse). And it's not like we haven’t faced difficulties in achieving it: famines, wars, pandemics, mad tyrants, and a long etcetera are on the list of things that almost wiped out humanity. So, how did we do it? We did it with one of the most powerful capabilities of the human mind: resilience.

Resilience or the ability to stand back up

First, resilience is an attribute of matter—it’s the capacity of objects to return to their original shape after undergoing some change or trauma. When we bend a bamboo cane and it returns to its position, we say it has great resilience.

Psychology borrowed this concept from physics to describe the human capacity to endure difficulties, stress, and anything that might try to bring us down. The human being has proven to be one of the most resilient creatures on the planet, adapting, changing, or retracing their steps when necessary. Human beings have fallen many times, but have always gotten back up, without exception (the proof of that is that you are here, reading this text). This magnificent ability to stand back up, again and again, does not belong to a special group of people—it is a universal attribute of the human race. Perhaps right now, you are telling yourself that you must be the exception, that you cannot get back up. The truth is that resilience is in you; you just need to strengthen it.

There are thousands of tips online on how to develop resilience—we won’t dwell on that here. We’ll end, however, with a little story I read when I was a child, one that marked me deeply even at an early age. A story that shows how difficulties are there to bring out the best in us.

The Origin of Pearls

One day, a teacher found a student feeling down—he was overwhelmed by difficulties. So, he decided to tell him the origin of pearls:

-You know? - he said - Pearls are one of the most beautiful objects in nature, but paradoxically, they are born out of pain, from the wound caused inside the oyster by the entry of a foreign substance. Just a tiny grain of sand entering the shell is enough for the nacre cells lining the oyster’s interior to begin their slow work, covering, layer by layer, the invading body to protect the oyster’s vulnerable part. The result of that “healed wound” is the pearl.

-Something very similar happens to humans - continued the teacher upon seeing the puzzled face of the student. - There are people who might say offensive words to us. At other times, we may be accused of things we never said. We may even be subjected to another form of rejection: indifference, or any difficulty life throws at us. All these are wounds that cause us great pain.

-And what should we do to protect ourselves? - asked the boy. To which the wise teacher replied:

-What you must do is create your own pearl. By covering each of your wounds with love, by forgiving and understanding, you will transform that pain into something very valuable.