What Do You Really Want?

As we look towards year-end, we need to be careful not to approach the coming year with spite and careless disregard for how far we have come. We need to approach the end of the year with immense gratitude. Gratitude not just for the things we have achieved, but for the things that can be. We are not just thankful for what is, but also for what can be. Grateful for the future. We are thankful for the hope it brings and the suffering it may offer. One may say, “What do you mean by suffering that the future may offer?. Our view of suffering in a postmodern world is antithetical to what suffering truly is. In a time of the pursuit of happiness, where civility, decorum, and a sense of well-being are the goals of the day, one may assume that suffering will go into hiding, that the idea of suffering should be rescinded, and its acceptance demonized. However, I present a different premise. We must learn to suffer and reap the benefits of it. We must approach suffering not as a goal but as a means to a goal; we must look for it, for within suffering lies the gold, lies the eternal things, lies the dignified possessions.

So when I say look into the future with the hope of the suffering it may bring, I mean that the gold you want hides in the dragon, which you must conquer. It is impossible to hope for the treasure without the war; it is hedonistic, I may even say, that one should desire the crown, and not the trouble that the kingdom brings. All that glitters isn’t gold, but all gold should and must glitter. Please do not understand my words, as though I speak of suffering as the price of gold. I do not see it as a price; I see suffering as the inevitable consequence of living. We can only choose how we respond and view suffering. We will all suffer, and this is no curse. We will either suffer from making a good decision, because every good decision brings with it a noble and worthy suffering, or we will suffer from the lack of a great decision — hedonism. This suffering will usually be internal, though it may also be external. The suffering of success or the suffering of failure, regardless of where you turn, you are faced with the option to choose how you respond to life and its many sufferings.

Looking into the coming days — the end of the year and the beginning of another — we must be thankful that we are yet again faced with another challenge, another opportunity to respond to life differently, to embrace the good, the bad, and to fight hard against the ugly. We must. And in the coming year, if you face the ugly, you must guard yourself, your heart, and sense of being. You have to understand that the path least traveled holds the gold most valued. And ugly is anything that makes you turn your back from nobility to depravity, from modesty to pride, from truth to deceit. Bad, we will embrace; good, we will embrace; ugly, we will not. You may ask what is bad and how it differs from ugly. Bad is the situation you may face on the way to good; ugly is what makes you reject the path of good. To simplify. Being a successful citizen is good; bad may be going to work early and coming back tired; ugly is rejecting the idea of going to work and adding value; ugly is seeing nobility as cheap, rejecting it for licentiousness. Bad is having to pay the bill and depriving yourself of a vacation and the nice things in life; ugly is rejecting useful sacrifices. We must guard ourselves against the ugly.