Like many of you, I read the newspaper and watch the news. I like to know what’s going on. Honestly, it is easier for me to read the paper (the real paper and not online, mind you) than it is for me to catch up via Twitter or Facebook. I will just say this now…I am going to miss some things too. Not on purpose.
But one of the things I like about reading the paper is that there is a beginning and an end. Once I am done, I am done. But many of you may never read the paper. Or you refuse to watch the news. 
Why?
Because what becomes “newsworthy” is not always good stuff. Instead, it is stuff that makes life a little more tainted, a little more cynical, and a little more disgusting all at the same time.
There are sections in our paper that include the “Good Deeds” where someone getting involved in the community or giving to others is showcased with a picture of donated food items or clothing for those who need it most.
I began to wonder…
Have we begun to be so immune to the beautiful things in life that we miss them all together?
Have we forgotten what it feels like to truly treasure the good things because we are surrounded by too many bad things?
Currently, there is an insurance commercial running asking what the insurance company would do if everything that it protects is no longer needing its protection? What will we do if the reason for that insurance company existing is no longer necessary?
Because our lives exist with direct opposites of one another, we must accept that to have one, we must have another. For example, it would be impossible to know what sadness truly felt like if we had nothing to compare it to through happiness.
But then, I started to wonder even more…
If we believe that we are unable to have one without its counterpart, why is that we spend so much time focusing on the worse part? Why do focus on the strife, the bitterness, and the and anger when we know we would be better off holding onto the calm, the contentment, and the peace we all want?
Have we stopped believing that those really exist? Or have we somehow shrugged off those beautiful things in life as insignificant because we believe they are short-lived and dumb?
Have we become so numb against feeling anything bad that feeling anything good doesn’t seem even worth our time and effort?
Are we so immune to feeling anything at all and have built a brick fortress around our hearts to shut out not only cruelty, but compassion as well?
Have we taken so much for granted that even the most extraordinary things, people, and places in our lives never become anything more?
But ask yourself…
Why do we get so excited to see the rainbow after the storm has blown through?
Why do we feel inspired watching a baby hear his mother’s voice for the first time?
Why do we love when a soldier returns home after a long stint over sea?
We need the bad to see the good.
We need to lose love to know it when it comes to stay for good.
We need to fall down so we can gather the strength to get back up again.
We need to drive a piece of junk while in high school so we can appreciate our new car.
The good and bad work in tandem — they are both sides of the coin. Experiencing both allows us to appreciate the good even more when it shows up. The bad will come. But so will the good.
Ever notice how the bad always comes first?
That way when we think everything we is lost and we believe our lives are over, we find hope once again in the moment just following — reminding us again to treasure that which we cherish most.
Appreciation only comes from awareness. It comes from fully accepting the ebbs and flows of life and the way we handle them both is to take one with the other.
