Tragedies vs. Misfortunes

We have had some discussions lately about the differences between tragedies and misfortunes. We can try to tie this into Valentine's Day as all good love stories, usually have one of the other (it's a stretch, but this had to be addressed!).

We have agreed that most tragedies usually involve a death or some sort of horrific act of which the person cannot recover and their life is truly changed forever. This is a tragedy. Life does not hand out tragedies to a lot of people all day long. If you work with 10 people for example, I'd say the odds are 1 in 10 are going to have a tragedy, or maybe even 2 in 10.

Now, you've heard the expression, "Bad things happen to good people" right? These are what we consider misfortunes. You have to remember that if something happens to you and you still have your life, your family, your income, your health and your happiness, then you have suffered a misfortune, not a tragedy.

Sometimes it just takes a while for this to sink in and you have to have a moment of truth to tell yourself to 'suck it up' and get on with your life. Life is short and you need to keep living.

I know a person that has actually been involved in a tragedy and due to that tragedy has suffered repeated misfortunes. She is to be admired by many because every day she tries her best to be positive and to keep moving forward.

However, there are those that feel the world owes them something over misfortunes and they try to turn them into tragedies. These are the worst people I know. Every, single day it's what is the world going to do for me. Again, if you still have YOUR health, YOUR family, YOUR finances, YOUR ability to live then LIVE. Suck it up and live. Remember that so many have suffered far worse than you.

Tragedies vs. misfortunes.......it's just one end of the spectrum to another.