It Slapped Me Again (8)

Posted under: Life, Relationships, Thoughts

I apologize for the lack of updating lately. School started on Tuesday and by the end of the day, I was swamped. I still have a load to finish so we’ll see how often I update in the next couple weeks. Coming back to Berkeley is fun and exciting, but it’s also waking me up again since now I’ve so much more to do. I thought the first slap from Fall 2005 was rough… I think this is just as tough or tougher.

Anyway, there’s not too much to update besides school work I suppose. I’m really happy with everything right now and especially happy with my relationship to Stockton Boy. Things are… I don’t know how to describe it. Of course, things are always going to be different because who wants to be in a relationship that’s the same as something else, right? But things are… I don’t know. I think the main thing is that we try our best not to hide things from each other, or I try to at least. The best thing is that I completely trust him. It’s been hard lately for me to do that and it took quite some time for me to be able to say this for Stockton Boy. Either way, I’m happy. Life is pretty again.

Now here’s the philosophical point: Why is it that in order for many people to appreciate what they have is when they’ve gone through something horrible? Why do people need that contrast to be able to say that one is better than the other? Does the world really need that comparison? In all honesty, people do. Most go through life knowing that they are blessed, but few truly appreciate all of it.

Say for example you’re eating a mango that’s completely unripe and sour. It’s a bad mango, right? Later on you have another mango that is sweeter and juicier. You appreciate that mango a lot more than you would have had you not had the bad mango. Okay, so switch it around. Let’s say you each the juicy mango first. You understand that you had a good mango, but you don’t truly savor each moment. Then you have another mango just to find out it’s terrible. Now you know that the first had been a really good mango.

Does that make sense?

Anyway, my point is that people are so wrapped up in other things that until something goes bad, then do they really start feeling more appreciative of what’s around them. True there are those who are truly grateful only from observing the misfortunes of others, but for the majority, that’s how many live.

It’s just a good thing to wonder sometimes though when you’ve gone through something bad and somebody good comes along. If that good somebody had come first, would you have had the same level of appreciation for that person? Or would you have known that that person was a good person, but without the comparison of a bad person, you couldn’t truly be grateful for the good person.

Tags: blessings, catastrophe, gratuity, problems, relationship, school