French Lessons?

Watercolor palette and brushes

There are many times when a particular phrase carries so much meaning in the original language but cannot be translated completely into another, hence the phrase "lost in translation." Yet while reading Marjorie Price A Gift from Brittany  I perfectly understood the words spoken by an old French peasant woman "tu vas connaitre la misère (You will come to know misery)." Of course it helped to have been brought up with Canadian French relatives who still spoke the language and two years of high school French. Then again life has taught me the understanding of the phrase as well.

"Perhaps there was wisdom in expecting misery to be a part of life, in accepting the fact we can't evade it. Trying to deny it only makes it more devastating, more lethal, so that when something tragic happens, we are unprepared and cut done by it." (p. 228, Gotham Books New York) How true is this quote! Life is a mixture of good and bad. It is not all one thing or the other. In fact even when you think you are surrounded by misery there are still pockets of joy, you simply have to look for them and recognize them for what they are because sometimes they are the tiniest of things - a smile from a stranger, a parking spot close to the hospital entrance, a person who is willing to serve you even though their shift has ended, a gentle touch. Often when our lives are filled with misery we are unable to see beyond it, we forget that good is even possible. On the flip side when times are good we forget the bad. Living is about learning to know both the good and the bad. To embrace all that life brings. Yes, embracing the bad seems crazy but it carries lessons that need to be learned. Plus if we do not experience the bad we cannot come to truly appreciate the good that life brings.