"What right have I to greive, who have not ceased to wonder?"--Henry David Thoreau

At times I feel a sadness, deep and penetrating, settle upon my heart and there it sits, casting a shadow over me. It is at these times that I have ceased to wonder. The beauty and joy of life having been forgotten, I let myself fall into despair. I have ceased to wonder. There is so much hate and anger in the world, so much death and destruction, so much sadness it is tempting to cover our eyes and hide away from it all. To shut out the ugly truths of humanities fall. But before we do this, let me relate to you a story....I remember standing on my back porch early one winters morning. The sun had not yet truly risen and all was still a dream. Everything was silent and still. I stood there looking out at the icy scene, the blizzard had passed, leaving the forest coated in a thick layer of white snow. All was silent, then in a moment a crack would shatter the world like the sound of a gun. Then silence before it came again. Over and over this phenomenon repeated itself. The sound was of the trees, deep in forest, exploding as the sap within them froze and expanded to the point where the tree could not stand it. It was the tragedy that seemed to break the symmetry of the moment, yet it belonged more to that moment than anything else. As I stood on that porch I witnessed the most glorious sunrise, the beauty of which can only be described as breathtaking. A sight that would have otherwise been missed; if not for the destruction of the trees I would have remained snugly in my bed.

There is much chaos in this world, but without that chaos it would be very difficult, almost impossible to see the beauty and peace that exist alongside it. One must never cease to wonder, for while there is so much bad, there is just as much good that is worth enduring all the heartache and pain and loneliness. We in life are battered and beaten, broken and forced to our knees, and then there is a moment. A brief second in the eternities when the wind calms and the rains cease. The skies clear and we get a view of the sunshine. It is those brief moments of tranquility that we must live for, even fight for. It pulls us through the long dark of winter in hopes that when the sun shines again, it will shine all the brighter and all the clearer. Never cease to wonder; the world is far to big a place to think that we have seen it all, felt it all. Never cease to wonder, but go out into the world with your head high, looking forever forward and upward finding the moments of beauty among the jumbled, tangled mess!