RESILIENCE IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY. My father grew up in a troubled household, with an alcoholic father who would often come home drunk and abusive. His father failed to provide for him or secure a future, leaving my dad to fend for himself. As a young boy, he did odd jobs to survive—selling pens outside train stations, working in cake shops, fish markets, and even doing small, questionable tasks just to..…
My father grew up in a troubled household, with an alcoholic father who would often come home drunk and abusive. His father failed to provide for him or secure a future, leaving my dad to fend for himself. As a young boy, he did odd jobs to survive—selling pens outside train stations, working in cake shops, fish markets, and even doing small, questionable tasks just to scrape by. Despite feeling lost and broken at the end of the day, he would always wake up the next morning, determined to take on the world.
With the help of supportive friends, my father eventually started a luggage business. In a small, dimly lit warehouse, he stored luggage bags, pouring all his time, money, and effort into building a name for himself. Sadly, some of the people he trusted backstabbed him, taking everything and leaving him penniless. At 45, I saw my dad, tired and heartbroken—not because he had lost his money, but because the people he trusted betrayed him. But his resilient spirit didn’t let him stay down for long. He rebuilt his business from the ground up.
Now, at 65, he still refuses to retire. Despite facing huge losses during the pandemic, he started to recover. But just when things seemed to be looking up, a fire burned down his entire warehouse, reducing his stock to ashes. As his daughter, watching him suffer another setback was heartbreaking. Yet, in the face of it all, he said, “Don’t worry about me. God is with me. Your father is very strong.” I couldn’t hold back my tears, in awe of his indomitable will.
