This is a class assignment, just posting it here for later retrieval and possible public interest.
Contrast
What aspect of our lives is not defined by contrast? The contrast of black text on this very white paper for instance. What would a sunny day mean to someone who lives in perpetual brightness? It would go unnoticed. And yet to those of us who live in the ever grayness of Seattle a sunny day brings smiles to almost all. The extent to which you can experience joy or happiness is only limited by the extent to which you have suffered and known grief. A child only just born into the world is unaware of this dichotomy. He will only see things from his very limited perspective, limited even more if he is sheltered from the realities of the world by his parents. For someone who has never known the word no, at the age of three or four suddenly hearing the word must be quite a shock. It would seem a great injustice to someone new to this world, yet so small by someone who has had only a few years more on this earth. All things eventually bleed into a sense of dullness if there is no change. Joy ceases to be joy, as it becomes neutral, normal, expected. Even perpetual grief and sorrow will turn eventually into a dull numbness if there is nothing to contrast it to. Such words of evil and good are only perceptions based on an individuals life experiences. Ask 100 different people what is good to them and you will get 100 different answers, and they will all vary greatly depending on their world environment.
Being aware of contrast and its necessity is a bittersweet reality. There is no heaven or hell by the definition of contrast, there is both good and bad and neither one able to exist without the other.
What aspect of our lives is not defined by contrast? The contrast of black text on this very white paper for instance. What would a sunny day mean to someone who lives in perpetual brightness? It would go unnoticed. And yet to those of us who live in the ever grayness of Seattle a sunny day brings smiles to almost all. The extent to which you can experience joy or happiness is only limited by the extent to which you have suffered and known grief. A child only just born into the world is unaware of this dichotomy. He will only see things from his very limited perspective, limited even more if he is sheltered from the realities of the world by his parents. For someone who has never known the word no, at the age of three or four suddenly hearing the word must be quite a shock. It would seem a great injustice to someone new to this world, yet so small by someone who has had only a few years more on this earth. All things eventually bleed into a sense of dullness if there is no change. Joy ceases to be joy, as it becomes neutral, normal, expected. Even perpetual grief and sorrow will turn eventually into a dull numbness if there is nothing to contrast it to. Such words of evil and good are only perceptions based on an individuals life experiences. Ask 100 different people what is good to them and you will get 100 different answers, and they will all vary greatly depending on their world environment.
Being aware of contrast and its necessity is a bittersweet reality. There is no heaven or hell by the definition of contrast, there is both good and bad and neither one able to exist without the other.