Light/Dark, Good/Bad

A tiring day and a good chat later, this thought suddenly occurred to me.

There's always the issue of Light vs Darkness, Good vs Bad. Of course, everyone in the right mind would love to be in the light, since it gives us many benefits.

Light gives us Sight.
Light gives us Warmth.
Light gives us Happiness.
Light gives us Comfort.
And most importantly, Light gives us Hope and helps us to Love.

Conversely, Darkness brings about the most negative aspects in a situation or life.

Darkness brings Blindness
Darkness brings Frigidity
Darkness brings Sorrow
Darkness brings Fear
Darkness brings Despair and Hatred.

One might argue that you would feel comfortable in the darkness since no one sees you. That would also mean you can't see anyone for that matter, and not a single person can live without having a human nearby. No, not one....Unless you're a hermit that has reached a Zen-like state while meditating on the inexplicable truths of life for the past twenty years when you're past your prime while growing a beard Santa Claus would have been proud of.

You might argue that the darkness of night brings you calm. Well then, how would you feel if you can't even see that it's night or day? How would you even know that it's 'dark'?

It feels like I'm opening a can of worms here, but eventually I believe that Light trumps it. Darkness cannot exist without Light, but Light can exist without Darkness. In simpler terms, If you do not know what is Light, how can there be Darkness? If you can't even see, how do you know you (1) can't see and (2) that what is before you is called 'Darkness' when you are left groping for something to hold on to for comfort?

Conversely, the argument should apply for Light to Darkness, right? Not entirely. As far as I know it, the world didn't start in darkness. I wasn't born in darkness, and neither were YOU (unless you were, sadly, a babe borne blind..).

HOWEVER, I do think that there exists a balance between the two.

A sociological POV that I came across sometime back argues that if there were no deviants in the society, how can there be saints? Without deviance, there is nothing for 'good' to contrast with and therefore, the definitions become void.

Then I thought back to the conversation I had: If something bad was happening to you, it means that I'm doing something good and the Enemy is out to stop me at all costs. Fair enough. In fact, I find the explanation most valid, for too many times when I try to do something good, something nasty always happens to me and I fail horribly without managing to succeed.

Is the reverse true, then, that if something good is always happening to me, I'm not doing any good at all? If there's a balance between Light and Darkness, shouldn't this be the case as well?

No.

First of all, good things are what we consider as blessings. Who in the world, in the right frame of mind would reject and question blessings? Perhaps the man who thinks he least deserved it for what he has/hasn't done, but even then the joy of receiving them still exists, even if it exists in the most minute of particles.

Secondly, there's a difference between something inherently good and something that isn't bad.

Confused? It's quite simple, really. Good simply means blessing. Nothing bad means...Well, nothing much is happening. Neither good nor bad. Just smack dab in the middle. Fence territory. No-man's land.

Don't get me wrong. I do fence-sitting many times, but being in this kind of a state feels like you're in a state of complete rest. Nothing's happening to you. Isn't that just dainty?

Heck no. While you're comatose, everyone's moving on (perhaps popping in for a visit or two, with more important people hoping you would wake up and move on with them as well). While you travel the path of complete dreamers, those who put action to thoughts have already climbed up the social and corporate ladder. While you're cryogenically frozen, the world's advancing, and when you wake up, you're - to put it bluntly - a dusty old relic, ready to be electronically archived in the museum after they take pictures and videos of you, then send you to the antique store to help some poor man earn his living selling old things only the wonderfully wealthy can afford.

Not my idea of a wonderful life, but I digress.

Thirdly, with the doubt that everyone would love to reject goodness in their lives, no man (or woman, since this is about balance after all) would ever think of accepting fabulously, spectacularly, excellently and intricately crafted misfortunes like a kid would his presents on Christmas.

Everyone hates rotten crap in their lives. Things like getting lousy grades to losing your job, having people ignore you to being persecuted and not being able to talk to your crush to getting into a situation that causes you to go "...What did I marry myself to...?".

The principle is simple. If we don't like it, we should strive to CHANGE it.

Simple, right? Of course. The theory is always simple. It's the practical that kills off interest.

Well, good news. you aren't the only one learning. Everyone's doing it every day, every hour, every minute, every second something nasty drops in on your life that causes you to go 'FML'. At least, everyone SHOULD be learning to say, 'Let's overcome this.'

So, hitting closer to home, I just thought to say this:

To everyone out there having a tough time believing in themselves, doing things or facing tough challenges in their darkest hour, let's all JIAYOU! =D