Topic 63 Are difficult experiences valuable lessons for the future?

No one in the world can escape some kind of difficulties for perhaps they are given by fate and they will accompany (сопровождать) us for a whole life. Success is one of the most important life goals for everyone, but every mature human being has to admit that success will be a blank dream without difficulties.

I have withdrawn from all attendance at public banquets. — я перестал присутствовать на всяких банкетах.

From childhood, my parents and teachers told me that there is no flat (плоской) and paved road (асфальтированной дороги) for me and I have to explore the road by myself. I do not know what are waiting for me in the unknown future, but what I know is that if I withdraw (откажусь) without courage to face difficulties (retreat without a battle), I will never reach my success. Every time when I met difficulties, I always felt upset and sometimes I felt so hopeless that I think the world is closing the door on me; but looking back afterwards, my life experience always tells me that what I felt at that time was wrong. Life consists of all kinds of difficulties and these difficulties are the most useful lessons given by life.

We bring about (Мы вызываем) most of the difficulties by ourselves. It's a rule that making mistakes will result in difficulties, and by dealing with difficulties we will reduce mistakes. I think that is a process of making progress. At the same time, difficulties can teach us how to face life and help us to gain courage. Once you have courage and deal with all difficulties with a healthy mood, you will really know what life is like and to some extend, you have achieve a kind of success. All in all, difficult is the best teacher for us.

Topic 63 Are difficult experiences valuable lessons for the future?

Life experiences definitely (определенно) come in (поступать) many different forms and shapes. They can be really sweet and really painful just as well. There is an opinion that sooner or later all of the above mentioned experiences would turn into valuable lessons of some kind.

You mustn't allow them to interfere with your business. — Ты не должен позволять им вмешиваться в твои дела.

I think it is a little naive and some what childish approach (подход). This is the way people want it to be, not the way it actually happens in real life. I am convinced that, unless some supernatural powers interfere, no experiences will start turning into anything of value. It seems to me that some efforts must be applied, because experience is not the sort of things that can come naturally, so to speak. To give an obvious example, if a student flunks (провалиться на экзамене) his or her examinations one day, and gets into big trouble with the faculty and the dean put together, how likely is this student to do well on the exams next term? It remains to be seen (Это еще предстоит выяснить), unless the student in question had given the whole thing some thought and decided to do everything possible not to get in such a jam over again. I suppose that if he hadn't done that, he would simply repeat the whole mess once more.

‘But, you see, we are on a peculiar mission and we have not known whom to trust.’ —

Поймите, мы занимаемся необычными поисками и не знаем, кому можем довериться.

Quite naturally (Вполне естественно), things don't work out this way all the time. There are people who do learn from their mistakes. The bad part about this very peculiar kind (очень специфический вид) of learning is that it always hurts, one way or another. If one has the habit of learning only after some first-hand experience, he will most certainly suffer from it. I personally can tell from my own experience that it's way more reasonable to stay on the safe side and avoid unpleasant experiences. Because when you have to deal with some of them you rarely think about all of the good things that can come with it some time in the remote future. What you really think about in such moments is how uncomfortable, upsetting and painful the whole experience is and how much it hurts to go through it.

Still I have to admit that (Тем не менее я должен признать, что) it can do you some good later on. But it's necessary to work on the difficult experiences that happen to you once in a while, if you really want them to turn into valuable lessons in the future. Gain is how we learn, said C.S. Lewis. That's the way things go. But not always, unfortunately. Sometimes people happen to die if the pain is too big. And therefore they don't learn anything anymore.

propel - побуждать, стимулировать; Dignity – достоинство; a curt – коротко; nursing - кормление ребёнка грудью;

out of embarrassment or unwillingness - из смущения или нежелания;

for the sake of our ego - ради нашего эго; unrelated - несвязанный, не имеющий отношения;