Rida and I were actually throwing D-words back and forth last night while driving. The result of this weird brainstorming is that I don't have a D-word.
I have HUNDREDS of them.
Which is a real problem. No sooner do I put one down and start thinking about what to say about it than scores of others start jumping up and down in my head (no, really, the words are bouncing like super balls) demanding for primacy in this.
It's a mess!
It's….it's….A DISASTER.
D is for Disaster.
(I wanted to use DISASTERPIECE, which is the polar opposite of MASTERPIECE, but was shot down during aforementioned car ride)
1 obsolete : an unfavorable aspect of a planet or star
2 : a sudden calamitous event bringing great damage, loss, or destruction; broadly : a sudden or great misfortune or failure <the party was a disaster>
Disasters are somewhat inevitable, I think. You're going to face them, no matter who you are, what you do, how much you plan to avoid them, etc. Plans never work completely as planned. Efforts often go awry. No matter how much you strive for a goal, that goal changes – sometimes the changes are subtle and sometimes they're huge.
How you deal with a diaster is really telling. If you let a disaster stop you in your tracks, that's a very telling piece of your character. If you pull yourself back up, brush yourself off and move on, that too is very telling.
You also get to control what you consider to be a disaster. The building where you have planned to have your wedding burning down the night before can be a disaster. Or it can just be a little inconvience, meaning that somebody needs to be standing on the ashes telling people where the wedding is now being held. Embarassing yourself in front of a crowd can be a disaster, or it can be a good lesson in humility.
There are opportunities in disasters. I don't mean in the sense of profiting from other people's disasters, I mean in the opportunity for growth in people. Heroes in books often face disasters that make them stronger. People in the real world have the same opportunity.
–Robert