Lessons from those who’ve gone before (7)

“As an old man, looking back on one’s life, it’s one of the things that strike you forcibly- that the only thing that’s taught one anything is suffering. Not success, not happiness, not anything like that. The only thing that really teaches one what life’s about- the joy of understanding, the joy of coming in contact with what life really signifies- is suffering, affliction.” — Journalist Malcolm Muggeridge

I think this is one of those self-explanatory quotes, but I think it’ll be good to buttress a few things, and mainly, why I think it’s accurate. By a lot of standards, I’m young. To some I’m definitely getting old, aren’t we all? But somehow, I think the length and breadth of human experience teaches us just this. Even if, we never put it quite the same way:

What makes the “good” days good? Bad days. What makes “good” health preferable? Poor health. What makes beautiful relationships so beautiful? Horrible ones. Now, they say that the proverbial “bar” is mostly in the gutter, but it wouldn’t be so bad if we weren’t routinely seeing stories where even common human decency fails us. With all the negativity in the world today, I wouldn’t want to draw all this out- status updates, broadcast messages, a simple scroll, and even three (3) minutes on a news channel- sometimes, the first thirty (30) seconds is enough for the reality of the times to hit us.

Think also of loss and grief and what that does to us. How suddenly, the worth of human life and the things we take for granted become amplified. Not because they weren’t important before, but because somehow, as human beings in the daily struggle, we tend to forget.

Even Scripture in Ecclesiastes 7 tells us just the very same:

1: A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.

2: It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.

3: Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.

4: The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

5: It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.

It isn’t the most pleasant thing to hear, but I think every now and then, we need to be reminded. Hopefully, the reminder is like a gentle nudge or a pat on your shoulder. If for no reason at all, but because we need to remember to enjoy the good, do our best to endure what seems bad, and learn what we can along the way.

Blessings!