The above full quotation is as follows: “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy,” and this pithy wisdom comes forth from our American Moses, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. It must be said that just about everyone is in a very good place when times are good and when they are also feeling comfortable, because pretty much life is going their preferred way, and because of that, most people that meet those individuals that are in that good place, are going to like or at least easily tolerate that person because of the fact that these relaxed people are in their “comfort zone,” thus reflecting to these others no pressure and no tension within their persona, making then these very comfortable people apt to be rather personable and friendly. On the other hand, not every day is going to be a good day; and further to the point, not every situation is going to be a good situation, in which, we do so find that the person that had been feeling real good in one environment, may feel an incredible amount of stress in another more taxing environment.
A lot of who and what we really are, is regrettably, situational dependent. That is to say, when all is good, most people are rather benevolent in their attitude and behavior; but then, we have those situations in which things are not going well, and how a given person reacts, depends not only upon that situation, at hand, but has an awful lot to do with the content of the character, of that individual. So then, while we might well think we know somebody; a truer test to such, is to see how that person reacts when they are not in control, and are under serious pressure, when adversity so comes – that in a nutshell, serves to show who and what they are made of. For the challenges that each of us faces in this world, represent our proving ground, in which those fires that we so face through stress and controversy, serve to burn off the dross of our outer shell, to thereby expose who we really are, at our core.
While it might well be our preference that everything should always go our way -- it must also be said, that many people desire for the world to revolve around their desires and their wants; but that isn’t the way that the world actually works, for invariably there is going to be conflict between one person and another, of which, each desires a thing different from another, and of which, to get what they each so wants, will involve confrontation between them. So then, how a person of supposed good character, reacts to a situation that is not favorable for them, says a lot about who and what that person really is. For all those that preach toleration, but are themselves intolerant, in those situations that really matter, are definitely wrong for that. So too, those that preach, “peace, peace” but are only too willing to draw the sword when they are denied something that they really want, have clearly shown their true colors.
For a certainty, it isn’t necessarily easy to keep calm, when everyone around you is losing their cool; but all those then that are always able to stay focused upon that which represents justice, fairness, and empathy, are going to do a whole lot better job of representing well the character of someone worth emulating and being, for they then have stood tall through both the good and the trying times.