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For Friday, April 26: The touchstone of sorrow for happiness

It's so hard to forget pain, but it's even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace.  Chuck Palahniuk

While being happy is the preferred, the ideal, the coveted it is in experiencing sorrow that we grow in character and appreciate the happier times.  It is easy to forget about happiness as it leaves behind no true reminder of its presence.  Sorrow, however, leaves behind a mark on our hearts and we have a touchstone to go back to after we have learned what we should from the time of sorrow.  It is in the happier times that the touchstone is acknowledged and used because our happier times are made sweeter by the sorrow we have experienced and learned from.  If you do not know what I mean then I would suggest that you have not experienced and learned from sorrow.  If you are tracking with me then we are kindred spirits in the touchstones sorrow has birthed in our lives.

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