Skip to main content

Life is Fine


Adversity is an issue that most individuals face several, if not, many times throughout their lives. It's a mere issue, almost a dignified rite of passage in certain situations that form the people we are, and have become, while creating the history and recording the journey we have traveled. Adversity is a double-edged sword that tears us down, strips us of our pride, our arrogance, and our false pillars in life, while sculpting a new individual, and uncovering new wonders never known by yourself.

"Adversity introduces a man to himself", is how the quote so often is told.

And while that is often very true, adversity can also introduce a man to life.

In a world today when adversity has become the universal adjective to describe the current times due to economic strife, the word almost becomes diluted. Weak. Ineffective in describing the difficulty.

An uphill battle begins to control our lives. The urgency settles in, causing chaos. Disrupting dreams. Making a home for fear. From Wall Street to Main Street, to the Farms and the Mountains. To replace the missing jobs. To overcome the rising cost in living. To seek out better health care. To provide better education. To want a better tomorrow. A brighter, and easier tomorrow.

This has become our adversity. Life is our current adversity.

And despite the range of effort and exertion we extend ourselves to meet and overcome our adversity, it is important to realize the lessons learned about yourself, but more importantly the lesson learned about life.

And that is, Life is fine.

I went down to the river,
I set down on the bank.
I tried to think but couldn't,
So I jumped in and sank.

I came up once and hollered!
I came up twice and cried!
If that water hadn't a-been so cold
I might've sunk and died.

But it was Cold in that water! It was cold!

I took the elevator
Sixteen floors above the ground.
I thought about my baby
And thought I would jump down.

I stood there and I hollered!
I stood there and I cried!
If it hadn't a-been so high
I might've jumped and died.

But it was High up there! It was high!

So since I'm still here livin',
I guess I will live on.
I could've died for love--
But for livin' I was born

Though you may hear me holler,
And you may see me cry--
I'll be dogged, sweet baby,
If you gonna see me die.

Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine!


-Langston Hughes

Recent Favorites

Dome Pondering Movie Review: The After (2023)

What is it about? In a short film, a grieving man confronts his past when he comes face-to-face with a passenger.  Who is in it? David Oyelowo - Dayo Jessica Plummer - Amanda Amelie Dokubo - Laura  Favorite Scene: It's an extremely short film, so...the final few moments.  Favorite Quote:  None. (not much dialogue) Review: This eighteen-minute masterpiece is amazing. You're absolutely taken on this ride of emotions that ultimately leaves you with a great realization of questioning what we value in life.  The lead character, in eighteen minutes, is powerful. His grief is carried through the film, exploding at the end. It very much leaves the viewer with so many questions - what was his life before the tragedy? What was his life after that moment? Did he ever reconnect with that family? Did he rediscover happiness?  Again, a very, VERY, powerful eighteen minutes that will jolt the heart, mind, and soul about life, what is important, and what we overvalue in its place.  Grade: 4/5

2024 NBA All-Star Weekend Thoughts

There's something wrong with the All-Star Game.  Yeah, we've definitely had this conversation before. Expect to pick up this very discussion (again) in July when Major League Baseball has their version in the "Mid-Summer Classic" when it is the ONLY current topic to bounce around in the stratosphere of sports discourse.  What's wrong with the All-Star Game?!  I'm not dismissing the obvious - yes, the NBA All-Star Game is very much at an alarming point of necessary refinement and change - evaluation is needed. What we saw on Sunday night was not disappointing, but outright embarrassing. Also yes, gone are the days when the game flooded your television screen at a respectable 6:30pm on NBC, and you were wowed by the athleticism and star power of the first half of the game, and treated to what felt like the world's best players playing pickup basketball on the grandest stage.  Now? Not so much. So yeah, we got the message. The outrage - and shock TV and hot t

Quick Ponder: Daily Armor

Imagine, if we can see the dents and scratches, the smashes and chaos,  on the daily armor, each of us put on. Just imagine.