Can’t know joy if I don’t suffer
Can’t know peace without disorder
Can’t know health without discomfort
Can’t know spring without the winter

Can’t know calm if I don’t know pain
Can’t know love if I’ve never known hate
Can’t know light if the loads never weighs
Can’t know freedom if I’ve never been caged

Can’t ever rise if I never drown
Can’t truly smile if I’ve never frowned
Can’t move forward without going around
What comes up, eventually comes down

– Rachel R. Vasquez, 1/24/2015

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

I was inspired to write this from an excerpt in Sophie’s World:

If we were never ill, we would not know what it was to be well. If we never knew hunger, we would take no pleasure in being full. If there were never any war, we would not appreciate peace. And if there were no winter, we could never see the spring.