I think we put too much emphasis on happiness and …
January 18th, 2005 | by Jeremy |I think we put too much emphasis on happiness and contentment. No one ever learned anything from being happy. No one ever reached for something more by being content.
When we seek out the advice of someone we consider wise, we shouldn’t look for the people who’ve never faced troubles, problems or difficulties. We should look towards those who went through trials and ask them what they learned from those experiences. In the same way a bodybuilder builds up his muscles by first breaking them down, we build our character by going through hardship.
I don’t think the happy times in life would feel as fulfilling without the sad times in life being there as a contrast. It’s part of life. It’s part of living. And we know this, we just forget about it when we’re going through tough times ourselves. We tell ourselves that people who have been given everything their entire lives are somehow missing out on something. They don’t get it. It’s like our pain somehow tells us more about oursevles and the world we live in. But it’s so hard to keep that frame of mind when we’re going through our own pain.
And troubles often have a way of making us see what’s really important in life. It’s like when you have the flu. When I have the flu and I’m puking up everything I eat, I fantasize about being better. I dream about doing something simple, like eating a hamburger. But when we’re better, we just take the hamburger for granted. September 11, 2001 reminded the entire country of what’s really important. Maybe we all need a little tragedy now and then to put us back on track.