Eventually we will find (mostly in retrospect, of course) that we can be very grateful to those people who have made life most difficult for us. — Ayya Khema, “When the Iron Eagle Flies”
Practically every time I speak I am asked, “Why aren’t you bitter?” How can you speak so kindly about these who prosecuted you?” My answer is never as eloquent as Khema’s quote above, but now that I have found it, I will definitely use it, for it expresses how I feel.
We can spend our whole existence being angry, bitter, or resentful about others and they way they treated us, but what will our life be at its end but a life of bitterness, anger, and resentfulness.
The teacher who gives us a bad grade shapes our life just as much, if not more, than the teacher who introduces us to a world of poetry and literature. The coach who benches you or spews anger and meanness, is shaping us just as much as the coach who takes our game to the next level. The bully and the friend both shape us as children, and though we rightfully condemn the conduct when it happens, “in retrospect” we can be grateful that his/her conduct taught us who we didn’t ever want to become.
Life’s lessons come from very unlikely places. I wouldn’t wish some of the places I’ve visited on my worst enemy, but I wouldn’t trade places either.
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