The lows push up the highs

"This place was truly the highest and the lowest of all worlds - the most beautiful senses, the most exquisite emotions.. the most malevolent desires, the darkest deeds. Perhaps it was meant to be so. Perhaps without the lows, the highs could not be reached."

Let's ignore the fact that I'm quoting from 'The Host' and let's ignore the fact that 'The Host' is written by the same author who has written books about sparkly vampires and just think about what that's saying. Now, this isn't the most amazing quote but it is one quote that hasn't been affected by my 'detwilightification'. In so many ways, this idea that the 'lows' emphasise the 'highs' is true and, although I wouldn't necessarily word it like this (not that I've decided how I would word it in something shorter than this blog,) I do agree that so often we don't fully appreciate the good things we have until we've experienced the lows in life.


It's like if you compare the reaction of a child in a poor country to a child in this country when they receive chocolate: they may both be grateful but there is something deeper, more pleasure and a more sincere gratitude in the child from the poorer country. They know what it's like to go without food, they know what it's like to live on only porridge or rice or whatever staple meal they can only get their hands on unlike the child in this country that more often is over-fed than left starving. The poor child, through experiencing the lows can experience the 'high' of getting the treat of chocolate in a much greater and fuller sense than a child in the UK getting a bar of chocolate as a treat.


So often we moan about the bad things. We wish they would never happen and want everything to be clear sunny skies, fluffy little puppies and kittens and magical double rainbows all the time (in a metaphorical sense) and we just don't want the suckish stuff in life to happen at all. Which, in one sense, is perfectly normal to want, bad stuff isn't nice: fact. However, we often forget to look at how the bad stuff has changed us, moulded us, prepared us for what is to come and also helped us appreciate the good things we have got. Losing something could make us look around and find things we had forgotten about and help us appreciate the other many things we have; being ill and missing something minor could help us appreciate the times we have been fit and well for more important things. More seriously, losing a loved one can make you realise how important the family and friends you still have are and help you appreciate them more than before. It's hard to explain in general terms but I think you get the picture.


This week has been a bit like that for me. On Thursday, I had a headache, was generally feeling a bit icky, and on top of all that got rejection emails from two of my four universities in the space of an hour or so. It was one of those days where, I like to think, I had a pretty legitimate reason to feel down in the dumps. However, today I was feeling much better and got an email from the university I most want to go to saying that I've got an interview! Now, either way I would have been overjoyed at this news, however, I think I was much more grateful and more able to appreciate the news when contrasted with the previous days events. Of course, I still have one university to say a thing to me and I still have to get through the interview and not fail at my exams but one of the biggest hurdles is crossed.


In a more meaningful way than expressed by Ronan Keating, life is a roller-coaster and I don't know about you but I much prefer the sort of roller-coasters with the bigger ups and downs. While Stephenie Meyer may not be right about sparkly vampires being intoxicating and her writing clunky at times, I think she means well and I have to admit that I sort of agree with her that "Perhaps without the lows, the highs could not be reached"

DFTBA

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Latest book read: Still reading "Friends Like These" I should REALLY REALLY finish it.
Latest film/TV/ watched: Oops, Tracy Beaker Returns - Latest episode of series 2.... Don't judge me!
Latest music listened to: Snow Patrol - Engines
Latest food/sweets/whatever eaten: A glass of milk (OK, technically I drank that but it's different! The last thing I ate was a sweet. The last of many that I ate this evening as I do every Friday as the result of helping with the tuck shop at Youth Club and having no time before hand to eat properly)
Programs and web pages currently open: In Google Chrome:
Alien President, Snails: Brothers in shells, Cylinder and Miserable, Fort Paradox, The application page for a Doctor Who exhibition pilot, Matt's Blog, (the usual offenders! sorry, the usual delights!), 3 Doctor Who related play.com tabs. (btw, I need to order by friends present. If you're not Rosanna, should I order ONE, TWO, or THREE?) BBC iPlayer - QI and The Time of Angels (pinned to the top of google chrome to be watch when it isn't almost 2am), Blogger in draft: new post, Windows Live Mail