Adversaries are our strengths

Remember the legendary animation characters, 'Tom & Jerry'....? Who can forget....! One of the best loved characters in the cartoon series. (My favorite, actually). Without Tom, there is no Jerry and without Jerry, there is no Tom. They are made for each other (in fact, mad after each other!).

Unless we have an adversary, to detract and derail us from our path, we will be naive and lie low. Faced with the difficulty brought in by our nemesis, we think of strategies to counter that and come up with brilliant ideas to surmount such difficulties and become victorious. The process makes us very strong, by unearthing our hidden and buried strengths. We become very strong eventually, ready to face even stronger problems (that might be posed by our detractors, in future). It is a never-ending process, making us stronger and stronger.

For a hero to be glorified, there is a need for a villain. The stronger the antagonist, the protagonist becomes much more stronger. That is why when a 'mass hero's film is to be produced, the film-maker scouts for an equally strong rival figure. The villain has all the arsenal at his command, but the mass hero produces 'unthinkable' solution to win over the foe.

This aspect is quite evident in business domain. We see fierce competition between business houses. When one ups the ante, the other meets it with better strategy to come up trumps. When one manufacturer advertises 'a new version', the other advertises his product as 'a new and improved version'. What is 'new' and what is 'improved', only God knows! We see this battle going on every day (thus benefiting the end customer!). When one starts giving 'free give-away', another (his archenemy), might go a step further and give us a 'free dinner' and a 'free give-away'! Who knows! To beat the competition, they will go to any extent.....

It is common to see even 'the run-of-the-mill people' becoming strong, when faced with adverse situations and come out successful. Legend shows that a lady used a 'wooden garbage collecting plate' to drive away a tiger which was trying to attack her child. That dire situation has given her the courage and strength, which is normally not present in her. We have to look at the 'possible solution' and not the 'problem'.

Of course, there are some people who break down facing such unpleasant situations. But they should face the situation courageously and come out unscathed. A positive outlook is required for this. So, our adversaries are not intruders in our lives but they are our indirect strengths....