Every Coin Has Two Sides
On a practical level, we will see that every single thing in the world has two aspects, two sides to it. Just as there’s wealth and poverty, and each one has merits and drawbacks—so too with every other area of life. Every neighborhood has pluses and minuses to living there, and every type of work has benefits and downsides. There are benefits to being a boss, and there are positives to being an employee. Every situation has some benefits.
Now, since you’re on one of the two sides, you may as well embrace it, and look for the good of that side. You’re not being asked to lie; it’s true! If so, why are you fixated on the negatives alone? The mistake is twofold: First, you’re denying the good of the side that you’re on, and second, you’re also looking away from the negatives of the other side, pretending that it’s all good on the other side of the fence. You’re sitting in the darkness for no reason.
A King Without a Car
Once, there was a group of rebbeim in a yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael. Each one of them would arrive by bus, the more common mode of transportation, except for one maggid shiur who had his own car and would arrive to yeshiva every day in style. One day, this maggid shiur walked into the faculty lounge with a big smile on his face, and announced, “Today I’m a king!”
He explained that he’s done driving his car! He doesn’t have the patience to drive in traffic and doesn’t have the money to fill the tank up with gas... and then, when he finally arrives, he has to search for parking. “I decided to give up my car, and this morning I got on to the bus. I learned a bit, napped a bit, and here I am, refreshed and ready for work! I feel liberated!”
This person wasn’t joking, and he wasn’t trying to make himself feel better. He meant it—because he truly felt this way!
Every one of us has the ability to look at life this way. We can always find the good within our situation, and this is the definition of illuminating the darkness.
