The Education of Life

I never understood kindness, until I saw it in the presence of ill will.

I never saw generosity, until it replaced selfishness.

I never knew mercy, until I beheld it beside cruelty.

I never felt contentment, until I experienced want.

I never received love, until I became completely unworthy of it. 

It took the opposite of light to illuminate the truth of it.

The education I received came at great cost. It took from me my naivety, my blind faith in humanity, and my youthful ignorance, but gave me much more in return.

There is no light without shadow, without contrast, no dimension. Though we decry a darker side, it enables our soul to open up to the possibility, and the hope of good.