Teachers

I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers.”
Kahlil Gibran

We have learned over the years to focus on how much we want to get rid of anything that seems to interfere with us getting what we want. We are very much aware of what we don’t want. Most of us, when asked to describe a person, can make a long list of all their faults but a very small one of their virtues. We want them to get rid of their faults, instead of to develop their strengths. We focus on wanting to end all wars, instead of on how to develop peace.

But there is a reason that sometimes bad things happen. They are meant to teach us a lesson but we very rarely learn from them. Often we just see them as some sort of punishment from God or as what we “deserve” somehow. Sometimes we see them as proof that God doesn’t really care about us. But that is all wrong. God sends us these events precisely because God cares about us a great deal.

Those negative events are meant to teach us to really appreciate the positive ones. People who know no unkindness have no appreciation for kindness. People who know no intolerance have no appreciation for tolerance. And even more than that, those negative events encourage us to become more resourceful and less fearful. They are meant to teach us how to cope with things that are not what we want.

So those negative events are very valuable to you. Instead of being afraid of them, be grateful for them. You will never appreciate, and therefore enjoy, what is desirable in your life unless you have had a taste of it’s opposite. You will never be motivated to strive for peace until you have experienced war. And you will never be motivated to become successful unleass you have tasted failure.