I’d like to post a thought that I’ve came up with during my studying for a final in Perspective Sketching:
When drawing any object, just as important as the object itself is the shadow of the object. Without a shadow, the object won’t look realistic, because it needs to be resting on a surface in order to be realistic, and a shadow is what does that. When drawing a shadow, it is almost always black, or a dark shade of gray.
I think this is all a nice representation of how we should think of challenges in life. The darkness of pain and suffering is like a dark shadow. We need to realize that without it, we’ll just be floating, and not “real” people, meaning, we won’t have a purpose as being human beings. But with the difficulties we go through, that gives us a “shadow” that we can stand firmly upon, and that gives us a “real” identity, and makes us realize we have a purpose here. So really, all challenges in life are part of who we are, and the help make us more real.