Hello, Adversity Weekly Roundup #18 - June 3, 2023
Hello, Adversity Weekly Roundup #18 - June 3, 2023
A new biographical docuseries for young people, Sarah Langs on love and gratitude, the emotional return of Liam Hendriks, and the general who addressed the fallen on Memorial Day
Hi everyone!
Welcome to the 18th edition of the Hello, Adversity Weekly Roundup. I hope you had a great week.
I appreciate the responses to my commencement speech that I published on Wednesday. I was originally going to write about a different topic, but I kept seeing news stories about commencement speakers at local colleges and it made me think back to my own graduation and what I wish I had heard that day.
Although it wasn’t a real speech (which is probably a good thing because it was quite long and an impatient crowd would surely have pelted me with food and other objects), I enjoyed the process of distilling the advice that has made such a difference for me over the years.
Several topics didn’t end up making it into the speech. I will incorporate them into future posts.
Without further ado, here are this week’s links:
A new biographical docuseries, Becoming Xtraordinary, is now airing on the Da Vinci streaming network. The show aims to provide young people with examples of inspiring life stories and those who have encountered adversity in their lives. The series is produced by BecomingX, a learning and development company founded by former Man vs. Wild host Bear Grylls.
Season one of Becoming Xtraordinary is ten episodes, featuring interviews with celebrities—including Julia Roberts, Channing Tatum, Courtney Cox, and Roger Federer—and other people who have encountered success and failure in their lives.
Here is the trailer:
The article is a Q&A with Grylls and the show’s creators. They discuss their motivation behind making the show and why they feel it is necessary for young people today to have positive role models.
Said Grylls:
“It’s never been a tougher time for young people than right now. There’s more anxiety, more pressure, more uncertainty than ever before.”
He adds:
“I’ve been so lucky in my job to have incredible access to brilliant people, and brilliant people have often had battles and battles and battles behind them. I’ve never met a strong person who’s had an easy past.”
The interview reads like a Hello, Adversity bingo card, which is okay with me. The show hits on a lot of the themes that I write about on this site, from finding role models to developing a healthy relationship with failure. Although these stories are inspirational, the show doesn’t gloss over the difficulties and hardships, which I appreciate.
Sarah Langs is a researcher for Major League Baseball (MLB) who frequently appears on TV and various baseball podcasts. Last year, she was diagnosed with ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
Yesterday, all 30 MLB teams celebrated Lou Gehrig Day with ceremonies that honored Gehrig’s legacy and raised awareness for those living with ALS.
Langs wrote about her experience living with the disease and how she feels about being the recipient of so much love from family, friends, and strangers.
According to Langs, there are so many people in our lives who are deserving of similar love:
“We should be telling people who aren't dying how much we appreciate them. We should be approaching each day with that mindset.
I appreciate every single word, every single punctuation mark from every single person, but everyone deserves to know how appreciated and loved they are. I look at people who are healthy and fine, and they're just as appreciated, but no one's telling them.”
Langs has many fans and supporters in the baseball world, none more so than her best friend, Mandy Bell. Bell wrote about her friendship with Langs for MLB.com and produced a 5-minute video that chronicles their friendship and what her best friend means to her. It is worth a watch.
I try not to go crazy with sports articles every week but this is another baseball-themed news story that stopped me in my tracks and that I thought was worth sharing.
Chicago White Sox reliever Liam Hendriks made his first appearance of the 2023 season this past Monday. Normally, players making their debut mid-season wouldn’t be newsworthy, except for the fact that five months ago Hendriks was diagnosed with Stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma. After finishing chemotherapy in April, Hendriks was cleared to resume baseball activities.
Hendriks, who hails from Australia, is one of the most popular players in the sport today. He is known for his competitive fire and joyful personality. His return was a bright spot, not only for White Sox fans but also for those impacted by cancer.
Although it is always unfortunate when a famous person or an athlete is diagnosed with a disease, they immediately become a source of strength for those dealing with similar challenges. Many baseball fans are impacted by cancer. In the case of Sarah Langs, many people are living with ALS. Having a public face for these diseases provides a sense of kinship and inspiration to so many, no matter the ultimate outcome.
The link in the title is a short video produced by the White Sox that chronicles Hendriks’s journey back to the mound. The video below is the television broadcast of his first pitch. Well, the end of the video is the first pitch; the first fifty seconds is the crowd chanting his name.
Major goosebumps.
First pitch: a 96-mile-per-hour strike.
Monday was Memorial Day here in the United States. Although I never served in the military, I am profoundly appreciative of all who have served and for those who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our freedoms.
I saw someone post the above article on social media. Although written in 2015, the title immediately got my attention.
The article shares the powerful story of Lieutenant General Lucian Truscott Jr.’s speech at a Memorial Day ceremony at a cemetery in Nettuno, Italy in May 1945, in the final months of World War II. Truscott, who was by then the commander of the Fifth Army, was so moved by the sacrifice of the men buried in the cemetery that he turned away from the assembled visitors and instead addressed the deceased men.
Truscott knew that in the future, people would try to glorify the battles fought in the war. This greatly distressed him. Having seen the war up close and the staggering cost of victory, he couldn’t see it as anything other than a profound tragedy, depsite the heroism of his men.
According to a witness, Bill Mauldin:
“The general’s remarks were brief and extemporaneous. He apologized to the dead men for their presence here. He said everybody tells leaders it is not their fault that men get killed in war, but that every leader knows in his heart this is not altogether true.”
The gesture was remembered by all who attended the ceremony. Added Mauldin:
“It was the most moving gesture I ever saw. It came from a hard-boiled old man who was incapable of planned dramatics.”
If you have a story you’d like me to include in a future newsletter, please email me at HelloAdversity@substack.com or leave a comment below.
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The dopey reason why I sign off everything with "xo" (even every separate text...it's such a habit now), is that I want the last thing I've written to be sent off with affection. We have to express our love and gratitude now. Everyone in my life knows *exactly* how I feel about them (good or bad). Life is too short to BS that...or anything else. Another great post, Chris. Thank you! xo