Jim Abbott. Stephen Hawking. Howie Mandel. After first examining these names, it is difficult to see how these three people are connected. Jim Abbott became a professional baseball pitcher without a right hand. Stephen Hawking made several ground-breaking scientific discoveries while dealing with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a severe nervous system disorder. Howie Mandel is a famous comedian who struggles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. After further examining these names, it is not difficult to see how these three people are connected; it is evident that each individual has become massively successful while dealing with tremendous adversity.
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Stephen Hawking is a highly intelligent and accomplished scientist. Born January eighth, 1942 in Oxford, England, Stephen showed promise in both physics and cosmology at a young age. He studied both subjects at Cambridge and after three years was awarded first class honours degree in Natural Science, and eventually switched his studies to Oxford University. While at Oxford, Hawking noticed abnormal symptoms but did not go to the doctors until 1963, when he was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, at the young age of twenty-one. He was given two and a half years to live. Six short years later, Stephen became dependent on a wheelchair and required a computational voice system in order to communicate with others. When Hawking was first diagnosed, he was admitted to the hospital and shared a room with a young leukemia patient. Stephen then realized his own condition was not nearly as severe as the young boy’s and inspired him to see there is more he could accomplish with his life . Before his diagnosis, Mr. Hawking described himself as unmotivated with his studies, but whenever he understood he might not live long enough to complete his PhD, he began working very diligently on his education. During his lifetime, Stephen has won a total of sixteen accomplishments, including becoming a member of the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge, discovering that matter, in the form of radiation, can escape gravitational forces of a collapsed star; i.e. a black hole. He was also named a fellow of the Royal Society when he was only thirty-two years old, along with the fundamental physics prize, the most renowned science prize. Showing that a physically-debilitating illness does not limit one’s accomplishments, Stephen Hawking is an inspiring example of the possibilities that can be achieved when one ignores the negativity of an illness and continues working hard for what they desire.
The famous pitcher, Jim Abbott, played in the Major League of Baseball for twelve years. During his professional career, Abbott played for ten seasons on four different teams, winning the Sullivan Award in 1987, a prize given the the most outstanding amateur athlete every year. What made these accomplishments so amazing was that Abbott was born September nineteenth, 1967, in Flint, Michigan, missing a right hand. Growing up, the lack of a right hand often proved difficult, but he persevered. He had a passion for baseball and practiced constantly, but still had people who doubted him. Ultimately, Jim proved all his critics wrong when he threw a four-in-zero no-hitter for the New York Yankees against Cleveland during the 1993 baseball season. In 1988, Jim was the pitcher for the gold medal-winning team USA in the Seoul, South Korea Olympic Summer Games. Abbott is now retired from professional baseball and has become a motivational speaker and written an autobiography named IMPERFECT. His goal is to “encourage people to see the possibilities that life holds. So many great things can happen in life, if we can find our own way of doing things, and believe in ourselves, no matter what challenges surround you.” ("Jim Abbott Quote.") He has worked with the Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Office to encourage businesses to hire people with disabilities. As someone with a physical disability, he proves to everyone that when one is determined, nothing--not even missing a right hand—can hold one back from pursuing their passions.
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Adversity affects everyone in some way, shape, or form. For Stephen Hawking, it is a nervous system disorder. For Howie Mandel, it is mental illness. For Jim Abbott, it is a missing limb. It does not matter what difficulties affect a person, but moreso how they choose to cope with it. The lesson that is taught by Hawking, Mandel, and Abbott is for everyone to never abandon their dreams, no matter how great the odds are for failure, and continue to define success in one’s own way. They prove daily that adversity and challenges do not define who they are, nor limit what they can accomplish, and that they choose their own fate. “It's not the disability that defines you; it's how you deal with the challenges the disability presents you with.” ("Jim Abbott.")
It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life’s story will develop."
-Dieter F. Uchtdorf