Life Is Conflictual
Life is conflictual.
The good and bad unplanned.
We absorb opposites
To fully understand.
To feel our happiness,
We also must feel sorrow.
Though we may be blessed,
We worry about tomorrow.
It may take lots of noise
To appreciate the silence.
It may take many mistakes,
Before we have good guidance.
To feel the depths of love,
It takes a lover’s absence.
When they return to us,
Much greater is their presence.
The good days give us joy;
The bad—experience.
The worse days teach us lessons;
We learn through difference.
Thus Conflict is our friend
And our good teacher too.
May you be that much greater
For Conflicts that ensue.
LTC Roy E. Peterson, US Army Military Intelligence and Russian Foreign Area Officer (Retired) has published more than 7,300 poems in 102 of his 125 books. He has been an Army Attaché in Moscow, Commander of INF Portal Monitoring in Votkinsk, first US Foreign Commercial Officer in Vladivostok, Russia and Regional Manager in the Russian Far East for IBM. He holds a BA, Hardin-Simmons University (Political Science); MA, University of Arizona (Political Science); MA, University of Southern California (Int. Relations) and MBA University of Phoenix. He taught at the University of Arizona, Western New Mexico University, University of Maryland, Travel University and the University of Phoenix.
So true, Roy. We must learn to hold these conflicting moments, one in each hand, I feel. How could we possibly begin to appreciate how good we have it if we haven’t also had it so bad?