sorrow ≠ bad

I was talking to a friend at work, and she had the misconception that sorrow and sadness are bad. negative. not good. period. end of story.

And then it hit me.

Sorrow is the opposite of Joy.

Joy = possitive/Sorrow = negative. right? WRONG.

Sorrow isn't bad. Sure, we can all agree that a little sorrow now and then is healthy, but I don't just mean it builds character (although it does), I mean it's not even a negative thing.

Think about it.

If there was no Joy then would there be any Sorrow? And there is a great Joy in your life, won't there be a great Sorrow when the source of the Joy is gone? Then I think we can also say that if you are extremely sad in the absence of something (friend, pet, loved one) then that something must have given you great Joy.

Say you had a dog. He was pretty cute, and you'd had him a long time, but he never obeyed, always bit your neighbors, always dug in your flower bed, and was constantly getting out and eating the neighbors cats. You wouldn't be very sad when he was gone, because he didn't give you much joy when you had him.

Sorrow isn't the opposite of Joy. It is the appreciation of Joy. It shows that we had Joy at all, and how much Joy we had. And it shows others that we appreciated the Joy that person, or that pet, or whatever it is, gave to our lives.

We need sorrow. Without it, what is the point of Joy anyway? It doesn't even exist. If we can never mourn something, then we never truly appreciated it in the first place.

And that's how I feel about sorrow.