The Tragic Sense of Life

"All is suffering, all is fleeting."



Monday in class we discussed the idea of this phrase. This is a very dismal and gloomy outlook on life. But is all life really suffering? In my opinion, a large part of our lives can be gloomy and without a doubt, we will all experience great suffering. Just by looking at someone, you can't really tell what they've been through. Sure, you might be able to conclude their current mood, but without knowing their life story, there's no way to know how much suffering they've experienced. However, it's inevitable if you asked, they'd have many tales of woe and suffering. But then again, don't we all? In my opinion, sometimes when something devastating happens to us, we can think that we are the only person in the world who something this tragic has happened to- but that is not the case. At the same time as your suffering, someone could be diagnosed with cancer, a young child's pet could die, and throughout the world thousands upon thousands could be going hungry. Suffering is occuring all day, every day, and sadly, we can never completely escape it.



Also, I think it's easy for people to judge others based on suffering. People can compare their level of suffering to others' and judge them based on that fact. People often think, "You can never understand what I've been through" when in reality, everyone has suffered.



However, out of all of this suffering can come happiness. This goes along with the phrase, "If you've never suffered , you can never be truly happy." To an extent. I believe this is true. If you've never been really gloomy, it can be much more difficult to appreciate the happy moments. If you're happy all the time, you'll never really know how happiness can truly feel. I've realized after a great deal of suffering, I learn to appreciate everyone and everything much more. Even a smile from a stranger passing by is more appreciated, and I learn to love the small things in life. If you look at a typical day, much of our life is spent alone doing common, boring things. It's the happy, more rare moments that we hold on and make life worth living.