Balance between good and bad?

Listening to the radio this morning, they were interviewing Charles Simic, the recently named Poet Laureate for our nation. Now I will admit to not really knowing exactly what the point of having a national Poet Laureate is ... trying to impress upon the citizens and anyone else who looks that we are educated and cultural in the USA? Anyway - I also don't know anything about this poet in particular, when I Googled him every hit called him "surreal" (well, probably they were referring to his style, not he himself, but maybe?) so who knows what that signifies. I guess one of his more famous poems talks about wanting to be inside a stone. OK.

But my point today is he said something in the interview which gave me pause. When asked if he could believe what a great week he had last week (apparently in addition to being named P.L. he also got some other accolade) he commented that he is expecting some bad luck now to balance out the good luck he is having.

Now, first off, there is the whole debate about "luck" ... the old one-liner of "the harder I work, the luckier I get" comes immediately to mind. But I also found myself thinking about the belief that you have to experience hardship or pain in order to fully appreciate joy or success. I haven't analyzed that idea enough to really know how I feel about it's truthfulness, but I lean towards accepting it.

Which then brings me to my own personal introspection. I look at all that has happened in my life over the past year, and it has truly been an incredible mix of good and bad. I have just been focused on getting through the days, without trying to interconnect the dots, but now I find myself wondering if I am balanced. Have all my bad times been tempered by enough good times to keep me balanced? Do I have a positive or negative or neutral balance in my "life account" of luck? And does this mean that the bad things have helped me experience the good things more fully? I like to think that way. It helps put the bad into a more optimistic perspective, and I am all about optimism. (And if this is really true, I am due for some really, really good things after all the time I spent being sick after Africa!) (Or else I was paying my dues for great things that already happened.) (Wonder how you know if it's repayment or prepayment?)

What do you think? Does this theory hold water? Is your account balance positive or negative? I think, overall, my account is on the positive side right now.