"When I hear somebody sigh, "Life is hard!"
I am always tempted to ask, "Compared to what?""
- Sydney Harris
It is a fantastic thought! I never thought of things this way. At
times, we all find life quite hard to cope with. But according to Sydney
when we complain about it we are not being realistic. Was there any
particular reason we believed that life should be easy? There is no
frame of reference to say how life should be. So, the best we can do is
play the cards we are dealt and try to cope with it as best as we can
while trying to help make others' life easy or not so hard for them if
we can.
As a programmer who has to play with abstracts in order to earn his
living and as an analytical person who loves to split hairs on a variety
of topics, this thought hit me right between the eyes and made me first
smile and then admire the insight of the person who said it. I hope my
readers like it, too.
It not only shows us why it's futile to complain about life but also,
since this is the only life we have, no comparisons, it encourages us to
experiment, have courage, take chances and make it the best life we can!
2 comments:
I love the saying and your analysis. But,me being one of the people who goes, "life is tough, eh, bud" and sigh! and droop my face when I feel like it, I sat and thought what people like me might be comparing life to.
People most likely compare life to other people's lives. When you see someone having something and you try to have that in your life and you face hurdles, then you feel life is tough.... without even knowing whether the other person went through the same hurdles before having the luxury. Another point of reference is you imagination of life, based on what you see that most people are capable of enjoying.
Just thought I'd share my thoughts here.
Hi LP,
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.
Regards,
Sunil
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