Why do hardships have opposite effects on different people?

[Lucian Hodoboc]

There was a discussion on another forum about this line from a Batman animated series, a line said by the Joker: "All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day."

The Joker is trying to argue that too many hardships coming upon someone in short period of time can drive the person insane. But he is proven wrong by Batman himself, who became Batman, a vigilante who fights for justice, as a result of having "a bad day" (when his parents were killed in front of him as a child).

Do you think that the way people react when faced with an overwhelming series of rapid troubles is a matter of personal decision? Why do you think similar hardships have opposite effects on different individuals? Why do the same hardships make some people turn to God, or strengthen some people's relationship to God, while having the opposite effect on other people (namely, making them depart from God and turn against Him)? Is what we call "snapping" under pressure a personal decision?

Is it a personal decision to keep wanting to be good when you've been handled hardship after hardship, when life had thrown hit after hit your way?

 

[Lamb]

I wonder if it has to do with the chemical makeup in the brain? Look at families who suffer the same things and yet people react differently.

 

[tango]

I remember the saying "two men look out through the prison bars. One sees mud, the other sees stars"

Why do some people look down and others look up? Maybe it's genetic, maybe it's about life experience, maybe it is at least something of a matter of personal choice. If you're looking out through prison bars you can choose to look up or look down.

I'd suspect life experience is a major factor in it. If you've had a lot of positive life experiences then perhaps you're more likely to regard negative experiences as the bumps in the otherwise good road, whereas if you've had a lot of negative life experiences you're more likely to expect bad things to happen and therefore regard good things as the exceptions.

I think the notion that "all it takes is one bad day" is more about dramatic impact than actual reality. Most of us have had at least really bad day in our lives and most of us didn't turn into master criminals as a result. But throw enough bad days at someone and sooner or later they'll change their outlook.

There's a well known psychological phenomenon called learned helplessness that you might find interesting, if you're not already familiar with it.

 

[Lucian Hodoboc]

I remember the saying "two men look out through the prison bars. One sees mud, the other sees stars"

I just came across this on my Facebook feed:

 

[tango]

It's very true, although the question of why some see the bars and some see the stars remains a good one.