Check out this interesting article in the WSJ about parenting. Researchers are questioning the so called “cognitive hypothesis” that suggests linearity between success in life and cognitive skill. According to some research, success is as much an outcome of character as intelligence:

[T]he most valuable thing that parents can do to help their children develop their character may be to do nothing. To back off a bit. To let our children face some adversity on their own, to fall down and not be helped back up. When you talk today to teachers and administrators at high-achieving high schools, this is their greatest concern: that their students are so overly protected from adversity, in their homes and at school, that they never develop the crucial ability to overcome real setbacks and in the process to develop strength of character.

Unfortunately, the world is run by smart people who can’t cope with adversity. This is why we have bank bailouts, mortgage meltdowns, General Motors, AIG, etc. Crumbling under pressure is part of our cultural DNA. We don’t expect any person or institution to get back up after a setback. Spinelessness has become the norm.

This is why CrossFitters gravitate towards each other. You may have absolutely nothing in common with the other people in your gym, but every day you see them pick themselves up off the ground and keep moving forward, and so you have to respect them. CrossFit is tonic to a cultural malady. We prove to each other that grown ups still exist in the world.