Learning From Hardship

Okay, so I was looking back to my grandfathers dad who had a gambling addiction. His father had a very supportive wife, who did all the heavy lifting in the family. It wasn't easy, she birthed like 14 kids, and lost a handful of them at a young age, because back in the 20's, life was a lot more difficult as it was today, but it is important to know that I come from that lineage, and even though there were unsavory things about them, it shaped me into who I am today! Anyway, his father William, was a gambler, and alcoholic. He would go into town to go get food for his family and tools for his farm, but would come home empty handed a lot of the time. This was because in town, there was temptation everywhere for such an addictive personality that he had. He would go to the bar, get drunk, and start gambling with the money that he was supposed to use support his family.

This of course, was a very horrible thing for him to do, but at the same time, having an addictive personality, with the added stress of having so many children, does push a man to look for ways to escape the stresses that come with such a responsibility. I cannot blame him, for I was not in his shoes, I was not him, I had no idea about what was going on in his head, but I do know this: the people who would push him to drink were the hutterites, they would a lot of the time capitalize on his addictions, pushing him into betting more than he could lose; his farm. Now for a while, I somewhat resented those people, as they took a broken man, and forced him to sell off all of his land due to his lack of self-control. But here is the lesson, as much as I can talk bad about what those people did, what they did have, or at least a lot more than my great-grandfather, was stability. This stability was something that ended up putting the land that they lived on in the hands of people who would do a lot better job at cultivating the land, and in turn helping the environment in ways that show in their works to this day.

All in all, the people who pushed my great-grandfather into such positions are no longer walking on this planet, so those bad decisions died with them, but what I can look back on, is the fact that it forced his family to learn that his father in fact did have a damaging problem, and they moved away, in turn, making them come down to BC, Canada, where they were able to do a lot more good down here. It also helped out his wife, as she was too able to seek a bit of peace in the fact that her children were able to look after her, really making her final days a lot more comfortable for her, that alone is a good, that came out of an otherwise bad event. Again, even though that land had been lost to other people, those other people were able to manage the land much better, even though they have their flaws still, as with all of us, there can still be a good outcome, from such a tragic event! So no, I will not blame the hutterites for such a thing, when there is objectively good things that came from the whole ordeal! It’s important that we look past bad events, knowing that we cannot go back and fix them, but instead look for ways to learn from those experiences to improve everyone’s future, and the earth’s future as well! This is another lesson for which to view us humans by, as even though we do have our flaws, we are also capable of fixing them, from learning from past errors. Just like some people try to simply remove bad memories, hoping to erase the pain, true healing often comes not from deleting the past, but from confronting the trauma those memories represent. It's about learning to process and integrate those experiences, transforming them into strength and wisdom. This takes courage, help from others, and dedication for a better future, not just for oneself, but also for everyone else who has helped them reach that future! I hope you found this insightful!