Perseverance

I believe that perseverance is taught by example, the concept itself is nebulous without examples. Talk is particularly cheap unless one leads by doing. It may be inherent, and I believe that it is to varying degrees, but it has to be refined to fit the situation at hand.
I got through the death of my mother when I was eighteen and newly enlisted in the Marine Corps, by dedicating myself to living in a way that would have made her proud. It helped that I had very little time to dwell on my misfortune of leaving home, and then having no home to return to, all in the course of a few months. You need a purpose to help you through trauma, and having friends with a purpose helps a lot.

I see extraordinary perseverance constantly in my role as a teacher. I often know enough about certain students that I admire how happy they are in spite of missing their parents, or being too poor to have warm clothes in the winter, and so many other things that should remain private. I can never forget a young group of siblings that I absolutely loved, whose parents were both incarcerated. One day they were all removed by the social worker, and they dropped by in the middle of class to tell me goodbye.

I asked my assistant to take over my class so that I could speak to them.
The social worker granted me a few minutes. I fought back tears, as I asked them to listen to me, and listen good. All I told them was that I wanted them to promise me two things. Take care of each other, and take your education seriously. I did not want to cry in front of them, so I told them they would always be in my heart, hugged them, and walked quickly away, and had a quick, private cry. That was a tough, tough day. I have never seen them again.