Life Is Sweet, If You Let It Be
In this world, who doesn’t like a little bit of sweets? To get a smile out of a crying child, nothing beats a piece of candy; to celebrate a birthday, you can’t be without a cake; and you would just feel like a nice sweet desert after a good meal…
But life is nothing like going to a restaurant, where you can order your favorite dishes anytime. Any elements of life, good or bad, always seem to pay you a visit at the most unexpected and inconvenient moment.
Remember why you decided to move to New Jersey? The six thousand square feet Mac Mansion, the tree-lined neighborhood, the crime rate, plus the top-notched schools – oh, how sweet it is!
Then comes the next Monday morning. You have to climb out of bed in the freezing cold, and in the pre-dawn darkness stumble your way to the Holland Tunnel when you hear on the radio that there is a sixty-minute delay… “Why am I doing this?!” You want to pull your hair out.
You finally make your way to the office, brew a nice cup of tea, settle down and try to make up for lost time when an announcement pops up from your e-mail: “John Smith has been promoted as the director of the department.” Who’s this John? A mediocre guy who does nothing all day, and a kisser-upper who takes credit for other people’s work. And he’s got what he didn’t earn! On the other hand, you always keep your head down, put all your honest efforts into your work, but never get your boss’s recognition and colleagues’ appreciation…
Wearing an awkward fake smile, you congratulate John, and you know your day is ruined. But you must collect yourself, and stay there until it’s the “appropriate” time to leave. Right now, you are just plain bitter.
The bitter taste is still in your mouth when you pull into your driveway. You grumble about how unfair God is. Just then, your front door swings open, and your babbling baby wobbles toward you, followed by your beloved wife with the most beautiful smile… Right then and there, what bitterness, do you still remember?
During your lifetime, there are too many events that rob you of your happiness and bring you pain and misery. In your childhood, you’d complained that your parents were too tough on you. Going to school, you just couldn’t stand the fact that this skinny little girl sitting next to you always beat you on tests. Now that you’ve got your dream job, but that curly-hair guy has a bigger office… Even in your “home sweet home”, can you really expect a honeymoon everyday?
Since no one can actually control or predict what’s happening in life, why not just open your heart and embrace it? As a matter of fact, the one who can make you unhappy is most likely yourself. Thus in order to start enjoying life, you’ve got to begin with yourself. Your parents were strict? They just wanted you to be successful. Failed to be the top dog at school? That’s just the motivation for you to try harder. The other guy’s grass is greener? Try to remember what you have accomplished… Inevitably you have fights with your wife, but what had brought you together as a couple was fate, and that’s what you should truly treasure.
Life is full of good times as well as hardships, which may not be a bad thing. Only after having experienced all those elements can you taste how sweet happiness is. And it’s those elements that make life so rich and vivid.
