Nate, a bright, articulate 20-year-old I recently interviewed, surprised me with this observation, which I’ve paraphrased here: “When I was in high school, I was bored and played a lot of video games, and I tried to think of ways I could make a lot of money and have a comfortable life.
“But one day, I realized that comfort wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted a hard life that would challenge me.”
Nate has spent the past two years aiming to make that desire a reality, traveling around the country to different churches with a team of other young people of faith, giving talks, and conducting workshops for teenagers. He’s now considering the ministry or becoming a missionary.
This young man’s desire for a challenging life brought several thoughts.
For one, we Americans do treasure our creature comforts. Like most human beings, we value security. We want a nice home, good food on the table, and money in the bank.
For some, however, the definition of comfort includes such activities as filling every evening with television, playing games on a screen, or popping open too many beers. Pleasure and ease become anesthetics, ways of escaping daily work and obligations, or as substitutes for more rigorous options. Many young men Nate’s age, for example, prefer playing “Call of Duty” to joining the Marine Corps.
On the other hand, most adults don’t need to go hunting for challenges in life. Every grownup I’ve ever known has faced the misery brought by hardships: the deaths of friends and family members, broken romances, bankruptcy, the loss of a job.
Other challenges—a newborn baby, the opening of a small business—bring more positive ramifications, but they still pump up the adrenalin and throw our minds into overdrive.
And we shouldn’t forget that for many people, finding comfort and security is the challenge. The father of two who works a full-time job while caring for his ailing wife may dream of a day when the weekend will bring rest rather than more responsibilities. The 40-year-old entrepreneur who battled her way out of the poverty and crime of North Philly may have attained what seemed an impossible dream—a house in a nice neighborhood—and feels she has overcome enough challenges for a lifetime.
This list of trials and tests that are a part of the human condition, good and bad, is as long as my arm. Life comes barreling in and people are forced to stand and fight or run away. Most of them face the fire.
Even so, I understand Nate’s point. His ambitions brought to mind something Pope Benedict XVI said: “The world offers you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.”
I think that’s what Nate meant, and seeking the best in ourselves is certainly a worthy goal. Many of you readers are in pursuit of this very same goal. If you’re striving to make your corner of the world a better place, whether by your work or by volunteering for a worthy cause, if you’re raising children as best you can, if you are honorable and kind, you’ve put comfort aside and accepted a challenge.
Challenges are tough, but does comfort therefore equal happiness? Probably not, most of the time. One simple example is that of the newborn mentioned above. Before that little bundle appeared, her parents slept through the night and dined out several times a week. But would they give back that baby to regain these lost comforts?
As for Nate, I suspect that whatever road he walks, he likely won’t have to chase down challenges. They’ll find him with no trouble at all.
