Life is Not Black and White

My mind was filled with fairytales, stories of Hindu mythology and various classical narratives which took me the through the plot of good vs. evil. The common theme of these stories was the fight of light against the dark, of the victory of ultimate benevolence on the malevolent forces. All it did for me was to create a notion that people are either bad or good, that the world exists either in black or white. A large chunk of growing up has been about me realizing the uselessness of such a thought process.

With each passing year, I have to come to realize that a whole lot of things are good or bad depending on the perspective which we see them from. Of course, there are events, people, and situations which are thoroughly evil, or thoroughly good but ninety-nine percent of the time the people around us encompass qualities which we cannot even map up to the simple spectrum of white, grey and black. I have realized that people who make mistakes are not purely bad, I have also realized that people who are good to me always can also be toxic. I have come to the face the fact that people who have wronged me can actually help me too, and also that whatever my parents decide for me is not always right. I have seen that people younger than me have given me very solid advice, while people in their senility have struggled to do the same. It has all boiled down to maintaining the balance for me. The art of judging when the person becomes too dark is actually the art we should all possess.

The experience has humbled me inside out and has given me a totally different lens through which I now look at the world. Every person I see is colorful, with his own strengths and own flaws. Every person is a mystery of its own who desires to be unraveled. Every situation feels like it brings something else in disguise. It truly is freeing to experience how open and happening the world can be once you realize that there is no such thing as absolute black and absolute white in the world. The world is more colorful than you could ever imagine, even your eyes see just a handful of them.

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