I understand that these days we are teaching children in school the difference between good and bad, which I find fascinating and unbelievable at the same time. Who has decided, who made the rules? I certainly don't feel qualified to make such a decision, but then I'm not a teacher, a civil servant or a government minister, so fortunately nobody has asked me to do it.
I do not believe in these concepts as absolutes, they change according to circumstance, culture, which side you're on, with time, and so on. It's also pretty unhelpful to see life events in terms of good or bad, because no matter how awful and devastating (or how wonderful and life-affirming) they may appear at the time, there are always advantages (or drawbacks). That's the very nature of life, yin and yang, counterbalance, it's all there, in everything that happens. Your good fortune could be somebody else's misfortune, your win is at the expense of somebody else's loss, you may love the hot dry weather, but the farmers are praying for rain.
So, the next time you feel hard-done-by, exploited, sorry for yourself, a repeated victim of bad luck, think a little harder about the benefits. And if you're experiencing some really good fortune, remember the less fortunate.
