We cannot avoid meeting great issues. All that we can determine for ourselves is whether we shall meet them well or ill.

Roosevelt is speaking to a timeless truth: challenges are inevitable. Whether it's personal hardship, moral dilemmas, or social crises, life will place you face to face with moments that test who you are. You don’t get to opt out.

But here’s the empowering part: while you can’t always control what you face, you can control how you face it. Will you meet the moment with courage, honesty, and effort—or with fear, avoidance, or indifference?

Philosophers like Viktor Frankl echoed this idea. In the face of unavoidable suffering, he argued, our last freedom is to choose our response. That’s where character is revealed. Roosevelt’s challenge isn’t about being flawless or heroic—it’s about showing up well. With integrity. With a sense of duty to something larger than comfort or fear.

What “great issues” are present in your life or in the world around you right now? And how are you choosing to meet them?

It’s not whether you’ll face difficulty—it’s how you’ll face it that shapes the life you live.