“Sorrow and silence are strong, and
patient endurance is godlike.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
In his “Meditations”, Marcus Aurelius (Roman
emperor and Stoic philosopher) wrote that nothing happens to any man that he is
not formed by nature to bear. It is that old adage, saying that life will only
throw at you what you can handle. Ask yourself to what extent can you endure
tribulations and setbacks in life? If you did, did they make you stronger or
did they break you?
In
living this one single (and sweet precious) life, we may relate it to a beautiful
Lebanese proverb that says: whoever
wants to eat honey should bear the sting of the bees. Enjoying life
encompass all the joys (honey) and all the tribulations (bee stings) it has to
offer. These have to be endured if one wishes to run the full race of life. The
important aspect of endurance is not to questions its existence but rather to
look at the manner in which one endures whatever must be endured. This is of
far more important than the thing that must be endured itself. John Milton
(English poet) explained this beautifully when he said that it is not miserable
to be blind; it is rather miserable to be incapable of enduring blindness. Just
always keep the following in mind: Breakdowns can create breakthroughs, and
things that fall apart can also (mostly) fall together again. A setback is not
an end, so give yourself time and push on.
Through
endurance, you may become like the infantryman Philip Roth (American novelist) referred
to, one whose heart and feet at first aches and swells, but finally grows
(through endurance) strong enough for him to travel the hardest paths without
feeling a thing.
In the fell clutch of circumstance,
I have not winced nor cried aloud;
Under the bludgeoning of chance
My head is bloody but unbowed.
I have not winced nor cried aloud;
Under the bludgeoning of chance
My head is bloody but unbowed.
William Ernest Henley
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