Bad days may be a good thing

You may be thinking to yourself that having a bad day is purely a matter of choice, but through many years of experience, I have learned that you can't always be on your A game. Even if you were to have complete self-control and a lot of determination to always have a great day, I doubt that it would be possible to never have a bad day. Sometimes your jokes aren't understood, your topics of conversation may not be appreciated, or uncontrollable forces may bog you down. It's just part of life! It's like a roller-coaster with ups and downs a part of the ride. I've thought about why we are made like this and I've come to the conclusion that it may be for us to connect with other people. When I am feeling good, I am in the position to reach out and build other people up. Contrarily, when I am having a bad day, someone else may lift me up.

Why do I speak of interconnectedness? In the Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky (one of my favorite authors of all-time) poses the same question. In the chapter entitled 'The Great Inquisitor', Christ appears again in Spain in the 1400s and is arrested by the church for interfering with its goals. The great inquisitor stands before Christ and starts explaining how there is no need for a Savior. He uses the three temptations as a basis for his argument. Christ rejected Satan's temptations in favor of freedom. According to the great inquisitor, humankind cannot handle the freedom that Christ was willing to die for. The chapter leads into a powerful and thought-provoking discussion about agency. One of the reasons why I love Dostoevsky is because he always answers difficult questions that he brings forth in his works. Later in the novel, he uses a monk Father Zossima to challenge the arguments that the great inquisitor posed to Christ. This old, Christ-like figure urges the fellow monks to pray for and support those that are weak. Everyone is responsible for others. Father Zossima outlines a very active principle that encourages each to do all in his power to reach out and help those around him. He explains that salvation entails being responsible for every man’s sins. One reason why Zossima thought so poorly of the upper class of society is that he saw how riches led to isolation. This then led to people not watching over each other. As a result, he asks, “How many depart from this world in solitude, unknown, sad, and dejected?” The Inquisitor tells Christ that the weak exist for the sake of the great and strong. Father Zossima looks at this with a different light. He agrees that through the weak, opportunities are provided to give help. However, Father Zossima believed that through such examples of helping others, the “weak” people would in time become strong.