A conversation trending amongst my peers is how many movies one member or another has seen that one member or another has not seen.
One of the latest titles added to our growing need-to-see list is Titanic, which sparked the question, why watch a movie if you already know how it’s going to end?
“Why live if you’re just going to die?” I wondered. “Why love someone if you’re just going to lose them? Why smell the roses if they’re just going to wilt?”
“Why love someone if they’re just going to leave you? Why try something if you just won’t ever get another chance? Our lives are flowers— it’s up to us to enjoy it, to stop and smell the roses while we can.”
-Amanda Brown, Oh Beloved One
Why ______ if ______ will just ______? For the experience.
The thing about beauty is that nothing lasts forever, so you have to enjoy whatever it is while it’s there because one day you’ll just have memories of it.
“Maybe there’s something you’re afraid to say, or someone you’re afraid to love, or somewhere you’re afraid to go. It’s gonna hurt. It’s gonna hurt because it matters.”
-John Green
There is also the point that wisdom comes from experience. You become a well-rounded person by acquiring experience.
In the case of losing someone you love, God allows people in our lives for a reason, so I will never regret the relationship I lost or say I wish we’d never met because without his influence I would not be who I am today.
Sometimes I wish I could go back to being the little girl I once was, but then I would never become who I am today. There is purpose in pain.
At one point in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Jemma asks Fitz if they can start their relationship over and go back to where they began: 16 and achingly shy. I made a similar proposition once, but there is a reason life doesn’t work that way.
For good reason, you can’t go back to one season in your life because it was better than the one you’re currently in. Neither can you fast forward through the parts of life you don’t want to live, and you shouldn’t. This form of escapism would take away the beauty of pain: growth.
Yes, life is hard, but with the right mindset, you can let it make you better than you were yesterday. Every detail—the joy, the mundane, the pain—can shape your character so you will be stronger and ready for whatever the future may bring.
