Can Any Obstacle or Disadvantage Be Turned into Something Good?

Although an obstacle or disadvantage may initially be a major drawback, both are capable of having positive outcomes. While some people give up and lose hope when they encounter an obstacle, they can just as easily make wise decisions and turn it into something good. Any barrier can be overcome with thorough thinking and good decisions. The experiences of Rosa Parks and and my mother reveal that any disadvantage can have good results.

Rosa Parks, an African American civil rights activist, used her racial disadvantage and turned it into something positive. At that time, African Americans were racially discriminated against and were looked upon as inferior to the whites. In Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, African Americans had to sit at the back of buses, leaving the front seats for whites. Rosa Parks, a civil disobedience supporter, sat in the front and was ordered to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. Refusing to sacrifice her seat and stating that she did not want to be deprived of a seat she had paid for, she was arrested. Although this was a setback for Parks, her actions sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a campaign to lift the law of segregation on public buses. Gaining prevalent support from African Americans, Rosa Parks and her people worked towards their desire for equality and desegregation. Despite Rosa Parks' racial inferiority, she was able to overcome an obstacle and become a predominant part in internationalizing the awareness of the civil rights struggle.

Similarly, my mother was born in Vietnam towards the end of the Vietnam War. The war was a conflict between communist North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam. During this period, many families attempted to flee the country. However, this was extremely difficult considering the condition the country was in post-war. In 1979, my mother and her family were fortunate enough to leave Vietnam for Hong Kong. There, they waited to be sponsored by a church in the United States. Facing many hardships in the United States including no prior knowledge of the English language and extreme poverty, my mother and her family were able to overcome these disadvantages to create better lives for themselves. Since then, my mother has obtained a good education, a stable job, and a loving family. Even with obstacles, my mother has made the best out of what she had and more.

Clearly, it is possible to use drawbacks for the better. Rosa Parks and my mother were both able to improve the lives of others and themselves.