Children think in terms of black and white-the good and the bad, the light and dark. Young, undeveloped minds don’t yet appreciate the nuances of life, the gray areas, the ambiguous and the ambivalent.
There is purity in the innocence of simplicity, but our lives are more complex than that. Living in a world that is both orderly and paradoxical, we can only appreciate life in its entirety when we embrace both dimensions.
When asked the question: “How is your life?”, a child usually answers “good” or “bad” based on his/her emotions of the moment. An adult would answer “Some things are great; some not so great; some things can go either way.” In other words, life is complex. There is no such thing as good without bad, and vice versa.
The challenge is to appreciate the flow and ride the waves.
The holiday of Pesach that we just celebrated is the paradox of life. We did not remember only the exodus but also the exile. We did not solely recreate the joy, but also the pain. We drank wine, but also tasted bitter herbs. Matzo is symbolic of our humility; wine demonstrates our proud sense of freedom.
We respect the process – from the lowest points to the highest, and we recognize how it replays itself in our lives today.
And so are we kings or paupers? The answer is both. True humility brings one to true greatness.
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