08/05/2020
Life is riddled with problems, both severe and docile; they are a part of life, as much a part of it as a baby is to its mother, joined together at birth, forever bonded by that mystical love far beyond man’s comprehension. When man is given the gift of life, he is given the poison as well. As he relishes the sweet taste of life so must he relish the obvious poison. But if man did not accept it this way, would there be life? Would there be joy? Joy, that elixir man constantly seeks from the time he takes his first feeble steps towards the outstretched hands of his mother to the time when his steps are so firm as to crush soft earth beneath his solid feet. Yes, without the problems, without the pain, would we know joy? It’s like having to suck poison to know the sweetness of life. It’s like bleeding on a sharp thorn to inhale the sweet scent of the flower. It’s like having to lose one to gain another. It’s like looking beneath the dust and grime to find the long lost treasure. It’s like having to constantly toil, sweating and bleeding, to enjoy the delicious fruits of one’s labour. Why do you stretch your hands to the sky as if pleading for manna from the heavens when it lies just beyond your crouching knees? Why do you bury your heads in your hands as if hope does not exist? Why do you lie, weak and dejected as if the sun has not just been hidden by the clouds to give night its fair share of the reign? Do you not gasp at the beauty of the morning glory, when the sun ascends in a symphony of golden rays, the sparkling, glimmering lights of radiance dancing on the river, a clear blue sky filled with songbirds declaring, “The sun has arrived! The sun has arrived! Let everything that has breath welcome the morning, welcome happiness, and welcome light!”
Have you ever wondered what made the morning glory so glorious? No? Night! Yes, Night, who like the hunchbacked outcast, toils in order that those who ostracize him may have comfort. It is night that makes the sunlight seem so bright. It is through the darkness of night that we can appreciate the brilliance of the morning! If we lived in eternal light, would we know that the essence of light was to see? So embrace your problems, hold them close to your bosom, for when a better day comes you would know to fully appreciate it, to inhale the happiness it brings, and treasure it like a lioness protecting its new-born cubs. Live in hope when the darkness descends. Let that hope be the light at the end of the dark tunnel, a reminder that morning had once existed and would come again!
Let your laughter ring through all the corners of the earth when pain rears its ugly head! Dispel your worry, live eternally with hope in your heart, and joy in your spirit! The two-forked path lies before you, which one would you choose: to yield to despair and live in eternal darkness? Or to carry the beacon of hope when darkness descends? You have the freedom of choice.
