Backward Blues

[Kori Dremow]

Sometimes when I am not paying attention, life happens. Through boundless tragedy and occasional triumph, I've learned to define life as more than living. Life is sick & health. Life is birth & death.  Life is bliss & agony. The most wretched, beautiful, disconcerted thing about life is that in order to see the very best of it, you have to experience the fucking worst of it.

[Kori Dremow]

Teresa, thanks so much for sharing your story. I am very familiar with autism as I used to be a Applied Behavior Therapist for children with Autism/Spectrum Disorders. It was the most fulfilling and rewarding time of my life. Your response really has made me realize how fortunate I am - I would not change one single thing about my life thus far, no matter how adverse. I wouldn't be who I am today and I'm pretty proud of the person I turned out to be.

[Bob Clay]

I think it was Mark Twain who once said something along the lines of 'I was dead for millions of years before I was born and it didn't do me any harm, so death has no fear for me.'  Which put life in a very sharp perpective, in that it is regardless of the cards you are dealt, that is ... it's the only game in town. You put the arrow straight into the target here, life is a sine wave, without the troughs, there wouldn't be any peaks.

[Teresa]

You've already dealt with personal illness so I can understand your point of view.  Your words are "in order to see the very best of it".  I wasn't half the mother to my 24 and 22 yr olds that I am now to my 6 and 4 yr olds.  I see more because I can't take them for granted, not since my 4 yr old was diagnosed with autism.  The diagnosis turned up the volume of what was right in my life, and small everyday milestones became huge miracles.  There's no way I'd have the same perspective without the diagnosis.  Maybe some people are born with that perspective.  But only a small tidbit who realize they're lucky just to be alive even when things are going well.  When I xrayed patients who were dying, many of them told me that they'd rather be the person they were with cancer than who they were before.  That says a lot.  And how do we cope with the ugly parts?  Father Paul Keenan once said that no one can promise happiness.  Just peace.  I think it arrives in the same package as acceptance.  And though this may make some eyes roll, the Serenity Prayer says it:  God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.  The only thing we can access despite our circumstances is peace.  I agree with that.  Your voice reads like you've learned this early.  Well done. 

[Toby Tucker Hecht]

How true! Also we are often not fully aware of the good parts until we look in retrospect. One nice thing about old age.

[Michelle]

There is a hint of Socrates' logic from the Phaedo here :)  Nice work.  

[Kori Dremow]

i've been meaning to but haven't yet! i will make that a priority.

[Robert McEvily]

Kori, did you see Exit Through the Gift Shop?

[Kori Dremow]

thanks for the feedback, all. Mike - the photo was taken somewhere in the UK. There is an incredible street artist named Banksy and this is one of his pieces. Here is his website if you wanted to check out more - http://www.banksy.co.uk/

[Gita]

Interesting six, great choice of photo. I tend to agree with Jamie on this one. Not sure you have to see the worst to appreciate the best. Life isn't an all-or-nothing proposition. Along the continuum between perfect health and death, there are a million way-stations. I think every day above ground has the potential to be excellent.

[Angela]

Great photo, as Mike said.  I am hoping, however, that I don't have to see any worse than I already have in order to live life as it is intended - because I know it can always get worse.  Thought provoking six.