Those things that hurt, instruct ,says Benjamin Franklin

Former chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Mr C N  Annadurai  told once while delivering the convocation address to the graduating students:Every step that you take will be a struggle which will dim your hope and disturb your determination. In some contexts  he again said ,when I say like this do not wink and smile and say that it’ s all  easy to say.

Life is simple and difficult. It is beautiful and ugly. Life can never be endlessly sweet and happy. It has joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure, achievement and failure, and in essence -good times and bad times the inevitable duality of life. We should be happy that life is like this, for if it were not so there would be no literature, no great music, no great art.

Once it is accepted that life is difficult and it has its own surprises, then life will be no longer difficult and hence it should not be difficult to confront the problems and negotiate all the twists and turns of the dangerous curves and bends of life. Despite all the burdens of life and challenges , we should breathe easy and live as if life is easy to live and also  get engaged  in some activity which we can enjoy.

Many a time most of us have experienced a series of problems which did not seem to end or lessen in  its intensity although time has  healed the wounds  in a gradual fashion and or we  have got accustomed to it by accepting the pain of reality .

Therefore when we are bombarded by” frustration or grief, or sadness or loneliness, 0r guilt or regret  or anger or fear or anxiety or anguish or despair “ we shall encounter all these uncomfortable and unfriendly feelings with a stoic smile and feel confident that it will also passé and  remember the wise words of Benjamin Franklin, “those things that hurt , instruct”.