My grandfather, Morry Lewis, always loved the saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Every time I end up in a difficult situation, my dad always recites that quote because his dad used to recite to him. I believe it means the toughest and most perseverant people will always find a way to deal with adversity and continue to work hard in order to achieve their goals. The ones who cannot persevere through adversity are more likely to give up and fail.
The quote has a deeper personal meaning other than encouraging perseverance through adversity. I find it unfortunate that my dad introduced me to this quote because he is the main reason why my mom and step-dad Peter had to move away from Buffalo, NY to Raleigh, NC and later Charleston, SC. It is a long and bitter story, but my dad basically screwed Peter out of getting a job that would keep my mom and Peter in Buffalo after Peter lost his previous job. Despite living in warm southern weather, this was heartbreaking for my mom and Peter because they were very close with all of my friends from high school.
The base image within the poster is a photo of my mom walking down Folly Beach in Charleston, South Carolina with our golden retriever, Quincy. In the background you can see a wooden pier that leads your eye across the top of the picture towards the beautiful sunset. I placed three smaller images within the biggest photo, all of which are photos of me with my friends from high school. At the bottom, I tried to make it look like my friends and I are watching my mom and Quincy walk away from us. I placed a picture of me and my friends in an inflatable boat floating in the Atlantic Ocean. On the left side of the pier I tried to fit a photo of me and my friends fishing off a dock. I rotated the image in order to get the dock to line up with the pier (you may want to click the image on my website in order to enlarge it and see these smaller images better).
Along the pier, I superimposed text with the quote from my grandfather, Morry Lewis. I thought I needed colors that would match the colors of the sunset in the base image and still be easy enough to read. The font is Calibri Bold. I did not change the font when I was working on altering the image because I thought Calibri was appropriate and easy to read. I made the text bold to make it stand out more. The second instances of “tough” and “going” are larger because they have a different meaning than the first instances of “tough” and “going.” The first “tough” is an adjective describing a difficult situation, while the second “tough” is a noun representing tough and perseverant people. The first “going” is a noun representing the situation itself, while the second “going” is an adjective describing the tough people’s action. The noun “going” can be defined as a term used to describe the amount of moisture in the surface of a racetrack for horse racing. When the racetrack gets muddy, it is tougher for the horses to run fast. I also like how the small “get” between the large “tough” and “going” somewhat hold the sun in place.
While the beautiful sunset in the picture may be quite pleasant to look at, the quote holds a brutally motivating and sour meaning for me and my family, especially my mom and Peter. I believe what my dad did to Peter was distasteful, and was certainly not a decision HIS dad nor anyone else in my family would support. While I do not think my dad is a bad person, I still think he betrayed our family’s value of honor and respect. For sixteen years, divorced people managed to live within a half hour of each other, and their relatives could still interact with family members on both sides of the divorce. My mom never hated my dad because my dad has done all he can to provide for his children while saving hundreds of lives a year working as a neurosurgeon. She has the upmost respect for his work ethic and she’s very strong for not holding a grudge for my dad’s dishonorable actions.
I think my mom’s side of the family sets the bar higher than my dad’s side in terms of honoring themselves as well as the people around them. My mom grew up with a father who continues to abstain from alcohol and a grandfather who has never owned a credit card and regularly contributes donations to his local church. My dad grew up with a father who used to be an alcoholic and did not learn to appreciate his wife until the later years of his marriage when he and his wife became active members of the Jewish community. Even though my older relatives tend to be far more devout than my younger relatives, my younger relatives and I were not necessarily taught to make religion a top priority. My sister Rachel is Jewish, but she has many tattoos that she believes represent the things that she loves or the difficult encounters she has faced in the past. Although my mom and I find her tattoos strange, we think her means of expression are very creative and unique. My dad is disgusted with Rachel’s collection of tattoos because Jews are not allowed to mark their bodies with ink. However, despite being tolerant of our modern culture’s separation from religion, my elders from both sides of my family demand chivalry, respect, and honor from myself and all my younger relatives. My family members have different religious, political, and social beliefs. Respect is the common denominator within the vast collection of my family’s values.
