Strength of character without rainbows, without roses Every man is born with a silver spoon in his mouth or with a shovel in his hand. In the first case, that individual can expect a life of relative comfort and privilege. If it is the latter, however, the person had better prepare to dig into the pile of misfortunes that life will heap upon him. This is the balance of life: for every man born under a bright sun, there is at least one born under threatening gray storm clouds. Individuals who have a natural inclination towards hard times, however, have a certain advantage over those who always seem to have it easy. True adversity gives rise to a strength of character that those who avoid it can never hope to achieve, understand, or even recognize. The most beautiful aspect of this strength of character is that it allows the precious few who possess it to see beyond the mists. curtain of their suffering and reach out to those around them, touching them with something that cannot be defined and that will not be forgotten. Perhaps the reason bad things always seem to happen to good people is that without a foundation of “goodness,” this strength of character could not exist and all suffering would be in vain. This moving strength can be seen in Beverly Dipo's essay, "No Rainbows, No Roses." Dipo, a nurse, talks about her experience of being touched by the strength of a dying woman. This woman, Mrs. Trane, was at the end of her long battle with cancer. Dipo had never seen Mrs. Trane before, but when she entered her patient's room, all her previous medical experience told her that she was about to witness Mrs. Trane's last night. Gathering around himself the sterile comfort of this medical knowledge, Dipo began his usual care, trying to make his patient as comfortable as possible. Touched by his patient's weakness and frailty, Dipo pulled up a chair and sat next to Mrs. Trane. She was bothered by the absence of the dying woman's family until Mrs. Trane weakly stated, “I…sent…my…family…home…tonight…I didn't want to… . They .