Thinking Out Loud, Volume CDXI

If we ever get the opportunity to design our lives the way we want them, to create lives that are perfect, how should we do it? I think the first requirement would be a happy life, so what would we need to do to guarantee that? Well, maybe we could remove all possibilities of sadness, heartache and disappointment. Would that make us happy? Let's think about it for a moment. Would we want this for everyone, or just for ourselves? Hopefully none of us would admit to being so selfish that we only want this good life for ourselves, while the rest of the world remains as they now are. However, I see a problem with that line of thinking. If I always win, someone has to lose. Things that make me happy might make someone else sad. If I remove the possibility of disappointment or defeat from my life, then life's challenges must also disappear. How much would a running back enjoy the game if all he had to do was run to the goal line without an opposing player trying to knock him down? Who would even take the time to watch a game if his team had no opposition? I remember watching a basketball game where something along those lines transpired. The score was lopsided, something like 96 to 47 late in the second half, yet the coach of the winning team kept his first string players in the game, running up the score. Finally, the coach of the losing team told his players not to oppose the other team when they had the ball....just let them take the score as high as they wanted. When the winning coach saw what was happening, he started pitching a fit, because he had no opposition, and that made him unhappy. Now let's look at it from another perspective. If I, by some miracle, were to win the Chicago Marathon, there is a high probability that I would let you know, but what would I say about it? Would my conversation be primarily about the trophy I had won? Of course not. More than likely, you would hear me talk about the run itself and the challenges I had faced during my struggle. That tells me that I must find joy and even some sense of pleasure in my challenges. No, I'll never actually win any big races like the one in Chicago, and I must admit that while I'm running, I just want to find the finish line and get it over with, but the sense of accomplishment I feel at the end makes it worth the struggle and keeps me coming back to do it all over again week after week. There's something I like about the smell of the exhaust from a Diesel engine, because it brings back fond memories of days gone by. During the summers between semesters when I was in college, I worked for a trucking company that moved drilling rigs. There were some hard days on that job, and when I was there, there's no way I could've imagined that these many years later I would have pleasant memories of the time I spent loading and unloading those trucks. While it's true that I spent my summers working there so I wouldn't have to spend the rest of my life on that job, I realize now that I must have found some type of pleasure during those days of struggle. No, I don't wish I'd stayed with it, but I am grateful to have that time as one of my life's experiences. The pleasure of winning doesn't come unless we face the possibility of defeat. No victory is achieved until we first face a battle. Could we be happy if life offered no challenges or disappointments? As we plan our lives, we'd better make sure we leave room for some opposition, because, after all, we find joy in our struggles. Preston