If Only

I am a big fan of Kipling's "If". I find myself turning to it a lot, especially when it seems like the world is turning against me and everything is falling apart. It helps me to realize that life isn't easy, and it isn't supposed to be -- these trials and hardships make us stronger and wiser, and better able to deal with other hardships that come up. We are forged in the fires of life, and if forged properly we are stronger than we would have been otherwise.
I know sometimes it may seem like, "Why me? Why do I have to go through all of this?" The world isn't a perfect place, and people don't make perfect decisions. But if the world was perfect, would it really be worth living in? I think it would actually become boring.
Think about it. How can you really tell if you're happy? Happiness doesn't mean much if you don't know what sad is. Light doesn't mean much if you've never seen the dark. Would we know what excitement was if we didn't know disappointment? And how about that sense of accomplishment we get when we pull of a feat that early seemed impossible? If life was easy, nothing would look impossible.
Life isn't easy, isn't fair, isn't always happy and carefree. But would it really be life if it was? Honestly, I don't think so.
And so I will take the ups and downs of life, and I will live and laugh and love to the best of my abilities. I will do the best I can, knowing that each twist and turn of life will bring me somewhere different, knowing that each time I fall I can get up again, and hoping through it all that whatever happens, I do the "Right Thing."
What else can we do, except our best?