Margaret Lee Runbeck once said, “Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of travelling.”
Everyone seeks happiness, yet in this world, few truly find it. This world was not designed for people to build a permanent home for their happiness. Those who see happiness as their ultimate destination will never truly attain it. Happiness belongs to those who learn to live joyfully even in its absence.
If a person understands that sorrow is inevitable in this world, they will learn to live with it. When faced with loss, they won’t lament but instead, will derive valuable lessons from it. If their hopes remain unfulfilled, they won’t fall into despair. This awareness becomes their support, helping them realize that no one’s hopes are fully realized in this world, whether they are rich or poor, a king or an ordinary person.
If a person gains something from happiness and success, they also gain much from sorrow and failure. The experiences of sorrow and failure make a person more serious and deepen their thinking. Through these experiences, they learn new lessons. Sorrow and failure can transform a person, reshaping his personality anew. If the world were filled only with happiness and success, it would become a graveyard of shallow and insensitive people. It is, in fact, due to sorrow and failure which act as a stimulant pushing one to work harder. This is the reason why the world never lacks in living, vibrant individuals.
The bitterness of life plays the same role in a person's life as the refining process does for gold and silver. This process enhances the quality of gold and silver. Similarly, bitter experiences reform a person, transforming a lacklustre individual into one who radiates brilliance.