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Theme of Salon Zoom Meeting: Challenges

©2022 by Richard E. Gordon • Duplication prohibited without author’s permission.

 Last updated:  6/4/2022   •  email: rgordon118@tampabay.rr.com 

 

For several questions, I have provided links that will take you to related online information. Try coming up with your own thoughts first – then investigate the links or ignore them – whatever you wish. If the links don’t work with just clicking your mouse arrow, hold down your Ctrl key as you click. Any problems with a link please let me know: rgordon118@tampabay.rr.com

 

Questions:

 

1.     To you, what is the meaning of challenges in this sentence: We rise and fall as we deal with the challenges of life.

2.     How do parents prepare their children to face the challenges of life?

3.     Are there new and different challenges children face today compared to typical challenges children had to deal with fifty years ago – or when you were a child?

4.     What new challenges face old folks (senior citizens) today that their parents never faced?

5.     How can we begin to overcome the challenges promoted by the gun lobby?

6.     If you could eliminate one major challenge facing our society today, what would that challenge be?

7.     In the long run, do we benefit from facing serious challenges and the stresses resulting from such challenges?

8.     If you could make the choice, would you rather have a (1) challenge-free life? (2) a life filled only with challenges you can conquer? (3) a life as it is today – with some insurmountable challenges and others which you can overcome?

9.     What political leader in our history do you most admire because she/he faced and conquered challenges that would overwhelm typical leaders?

10.  What special challenges is our Nation facing today as a result of the January 6th insurrection in Washington?

11.  If you were to win a million dollar lottery tomorrow, what difficult challenges might you face?  Does wealth, in fact, breed challenges?

12.  Is there any benefit to challenging ourselves – to create our own challenges?  If you answer “Yes”, give examples of such self-challenges?

13.  Think of a political, social, or religious organization to which you belong. What challenges face the leader(s) and how might you help the leader deal with these challenges?

14.  Does a typical teacher today face far greater challenges than he/she might have faced fifty years ago? Can you foresee any laws – government regulations of any kind – that could help a teacher deal with these challenges? 

 

Quotations:

  1. “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” – Albert Einstein
  2.  “The key to life is accepting challenges. Once someone stops doing this, he’s dead.” – Bette Davis
  3.    “I don’t run away from a challenge because I am afraid. Instead, I run towards it because the only way to escape fear is to trample it beneath your foot.” – Nadia Comaneci
  4.   “But today our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change. The large house in which we live demands that we transform this world-wide neighborhood into a world – wide brotherhood.” – Martin Luther King
  5. “Believe in yourself, take on your challenges, dig deep within yourself to conquer fears. Never let anyone bring you down. You got to keep going.” -- Chantal Sutherlan
  6. Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory -- George S. Patto
  7. Our ability to handle life's challenges is a measure of our strength of character.
    --_Les Brown
  8. If I could talk to my younger self, I would just say that the path to great things is filled with a lot of stumbles, suffering, and challenges along the way. But if you have the right attitude and know that hard times will pass - and you get up each time - you will reach your destination. -- Jonny Kim
  9. “You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.” ― Bob Marley 
  10. “The single most common factor for children who develop resilience is at least one stable and committed relationship with a supportive parent, caregiver, or other adult.” – From the Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University. [The word “challenges” may not be mentioned here, but to me “resilience” implies – the ability to handle challenges. REG]