127 hours: The power of adversity

Although I’ve been trying to avoid the subject of COVID-19, it is something that is affecting globally and causing a strong impact on everyone, physically, mentally, economically, and of course and very sadly, in health. I know it seems as though this virus is destroying the planet and there is nothing to do but wait. Well, I don’t agree, there’s always something to do, not necessarily to change an external circumstance, but not to be damaged by it.

The movie today is a little bit different. It is an amazing film, with very strong scenes and a very powerful message. The direction by Danny Boyle works perfectly because it helps to empathize and try to feel what the character is feeling. James Franco is excepcional, because he accomplishes such a real performance, that really seems as how someone would act (and acted) in the situation his character, Aron Ralston, was. He truly manages to deliver a perfect message and very powerful emotions that take over ourselves. Another amazing part of the film is the editing, very notorious, but really helps move the story forward and helps portraying the right emotions and the right moods at the correct timing.

As I said at the beginning, this is about the coronavirus pandemic, and as the title of the article indicates, it relates the movie, with the current situation, to any situation where adversity is presented. Our first reaction as humans to a problem is to look for the answer, and try figuring out who has it, but in situations such as the one we are in, there aren’t many answers, so people are starting to surrender, to give in, to just follow the instructions and wait for changes. Let me tell you something, in the movie, Aron doesn’t just stay there, waiting for something to happen. His problem appeared out of nowhere, in the movie the change felt very quickly and without any background, but that’s the entire point: we weren't ready for this, as well as Aron wasn’t, but there is nothing more to do but to fix it. If we stay like this, with our arms crossed, not doing anything, we’ll die, figuratively and literally, I promise. If we decide to just wait and take no actions, we’ll run out of supplies and won’t have anything to survive. But if we instead act, if we try to find a solution, and another solution, and a different alternative, then that’s when we’ll succeed. We may have to carve a stone that trapped our hand, he may have to amputate our hand, but that’s how life works, you need to make sacrifices. The point is that there is always a way, and that in times of adversity, of trouble, we have the advantage to have a necessity, the greatest motivator ever, because we know that if we don’t act, there’s nothing else.

Now, there’s a big difference between what Aron lived and what we are living. Aron lived it alone, and we are living it all together. If a movie, if a story, teaches us that there is an alternative to everything and that there is always a way of surviving adversity even though we are alone, imagine what we could do all together, just imagine. We’re on the edge of inventing wonders, of innovating more than ever before, because adversity is the motor of improvement.

So please, don’t stay at home blaming a virus for not doing anything, instead think of something, do something, act, innovate, change, and let’s all come out of this adversity together, and better.