As a kid, I have always heard people giving me pieces of advice, tell me ultimate truths of life. And I accepted these words of wisdom, tried very hard to keep them in mind. And even though I tried to rationally grasp the meaning of those words, I knew that there must be a deeper essence within them, one I would only be able to understand through my own experience.
And yet, there was one exception. We were in our final year of high school, studying for the final exams and for the entrance exams at the uni. Everyone was extremely tired and stressed out. I can't remeber the narrow context of my teacher's confession. I remeber she was talking to one student while everyone else was listening and then she said to the whole class:
"If you are terrified by the possibility of failing this exam, you have no idea of the proportions of the hardships of life."
She took her time finishing the sentence, stessing the "you have no idea" part. Her tone was crushingly honest and she was smiling while she said it, the type of smile that says: "And I should know." Her statement robbed us completely and instantly, with only one sentence, of both our fear and the only standard we had ever had for hardship. A heavy burden was lifted but a heavier one had been dropped. This was the only time the meaning of another person's words had a major impact on me, whithout me having any experiential basis for them.
Thanks, Ms. R. for teaching me perspective.
