An Extreme Tale

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens quotes: 

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

There were several instances in our lives too when the above quotation best described our life. The extreme tale between emotion and logic, the tale between appreciation and criticism, the tale between having everything and having nothing which exist even today and has been told and retold since ages.

Here are few of the instances that we tried to recollect from memories of our life span to create this post.

1. Emotion and Logic:

There was this period in our life when we had to take that difficult decision and choose between emotion and logic. While emotions gifted us with the utmost strength to face the harsh realities of a self-realized and self-designed life of blissfulness; logic on the other hand tried to guide us to a known world where everything seemed to be absolutely perfect or at least were destined to be perfect. On the contrary, if logic helped us choose the partner of our choice, emotion reminded us of our responsibilities. That was the best of times for us as we were extremely excited to dream our future together. But again that was the worst of times for us because we had to choose between ‘people we love’ and the ‘person we love’.

2. Appreciation and Criticism: 

Yet another period in our life when we were caught between appreciation and criticism that resulted into yet another extreme of acceptance and rejection. While our hard work and efforts were recognized and appreciated, every minute detail of our success landed us into criticism. It was like being sent to the top to be pushed down to the bottom. While trying to scramble between appreciation and criticism, we were introduced to a new world of stress that left us juggling between acceptance and rejection. Accepting life as it comes or rejecting the situation and fight back. Everything seemed to be in a network, leaving us bewildered. While stress left us with sour memories, it also opened the door to new opportunities. That was the time when we realized our new love for writing and discovered WordPress. That was the worst of times but it has also been the best of times.

3. Having everything and Having nothing:

For whatever reason; knowingly or unknowingly, we found ourselves lost in life’s philosophy. It was like a turning point. It was like going back after travelling half way in the cycle of life; going back to where we came from. It is the period of realizing new dreams and aspirations, where we are all set to face an entirely different world where dreams could turn into reality and where we develop the craze to create our own path. The tussle between having everything and realizing that we actually do not possess anything further enunciates the pleasure of contentment and at the same time leaving us with a heart filled with unfulfilled desires. This is the period when we tend to question our existence and at the same time desire to live life to the hearts’ content. This is the period when heaven and hell coexist. This has shown us the best of times and also the worst of times.

Though difficult, life moves on and so did we. Life is not a competition. It is all about living, not winning. Find the good in the bad while accepting the bad in the good. Faith and hope finally helped us make the two extremes meet and it is the combination of both the extremes that actually completes the life-cycle. 

 © 2014 Ahmad and Ahmad