Sadness and Beauty...

Yesterday, I was sitting on Tina's back porch watching the rain while her host mom cut my hair (which, considering she's still in beauty school, turned out alright even though it was about 2 inches more chopped than I was planning on...)


While we were sitting there, we talked about our neighbor who was murdered last Thursday.  The suspicions on who, how, and why are quite varied, but the general consensus is that it is incredibly triste and whoever did it won't ever be put in jail (this is rather common).  It sucks.


But, as we talked about him, I watched a hummingbird fly and hover from beautiful rose to beautiful rose.  He was so delicate, simple, and gorgeous.


How can this hummingbird coexist with the murders, abuse, and corruption I keep seeing?  The extremes I keep seeing here are blowing my mind...  I have seen more beauty and more sadness this year than ever in my life... and at the same time!

But then, I realize that although I don't like it, I don't think happiness and sadness can live without the other.  At least, they can't and be appreciated in the way that they are.  I am certain that my perception of Guatemala's astounding beauty is strongly influenced by the sights and experiences of sadness and struggles that I have encountered. 

While I was thinking about this today, I looked up some quotes about it.  I like this one a lot:

“Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.” - Carl Gustav Jung 

Although Jung and I don't always agree on everything, I really agree with him in this respect.  If we didn't have happiness, we wouldn't be able to feel the pain that we feel when we see sadness.  We would be numb and miss the healing and life learning properties that sadness bring and the hope that gets us through to better times.  In the same way, if we didn't have sadness, what would happiness be?  We would take it for granted and then what would we have?  A bunch of amazing things that we have no idea are amazing. 

I'm certain that if we hadn't been talking about an incredibly sad thing, the beauty of the humming bird and roses in the rain would have passed me by.  And if I hadn't seen the beauty, I would have less hope for the world and be really really depressed.  

So, I guess, I'm thankful for both.  But I'm going to keep praying for my pueblo.  Big murders hurt small towns a lot.

“So much sadness exists in the world that we are all under obligation to contribute as much joy as lies within our powers.” - John Sutherland Bonnell