Life is a balance beam of good and bad. Every person is gifted one when they first arrive into the world. It’s packaged with the red letters “fragile” printed on the front, and a warning note that informs every move you make will count. Though what it doesn’t tell is not everyone receives the same balance beam. Some tip a little more towards the bad, while others generously fall towards the good. Through time it changes from good to bad and bad to good, rarely ever does it simply stay balanced.

As you grow older, you also grow accustomed to its unique pattern. At first, when you’re much younger, you don’t notice it as much. It’s certainly there, but your will for optimism blinds you from the obvious comparison. You, as most others do as well, hide it on a high shelf that can only be reached by those more experienced with life, and have grown a few inches.

During your teen years, you start to ponder about that dusty old balance beam you had once forgotten and refused to understand. You seem to hear much about it from others that are older and claim they know much more. But is what they say true? Or are they just being cynical? Then again what led them to their pessimistic thinking? Certainly it couldn’t have been time alone. And why are there some that maintain a constant level of optimism yet have experienced the same amount of time as those who suffer in melancholy state mind.

Your curiosity subjugates your will to analyze this odd balance beam you know so little about. Your analysis starts with the first step of comparison. It never really occurred to you before but not everyone’s balance beam is the same. That bothers you. Then, that’s when it hits you, if you’re one of the unfortunate owners of a balance beam that tilts a little too much to the poor, hard, unhappy side, you begin to proclaim this criminal discriminatory injustice. Though if you’re the lucky possessor of the balance beams that generously fall towards blessings, gifts, ease and happiness, it’s hard to be bothered by the misfortunate luck of others. Of course, one cannot generalize such a majority, as all balance beams are unique and one of a kind as the individual that it belongs too. It’s every one person’s role to handle their balance beam how they wish. Some will handle it better than others; sometimes the match between an owner and its balance beam is just too vast. In these cases, you may not be able to have a say in what you get, but over time you learn to work and modify it so that it almost seems balanced.

My life isn’t one to describe as easy. I’ve had my fair share of struggles, maybe even a bit more than fair. The only way I can comprehend why I deal with things that others don’t is that it’s something that simply can’t be changed. I can’t change that my family is financially unstable. I can’t change the way I look. I can’t change when something bad happens, and something bad seems to happen a lot. My balance beam is definitely one to fall towards too bad, and It’s frustrating watching others enjoy their good fortune while I struggle getting through each obstacle that comes my way. Already I’m exhausted, but I will never stop trying to balance my balance beam. It’s a constant fight of back and forth, but it’s worth it in that it shapes me into who I am.

The truth of the matter is, no matter how much we would like to tip our balance beam to the side we want, that’s not how it works. There are no controls to life that allow you the option to choose. It’s all by chance. And maybe that’s the beauty of it all, we’re each given a balance beam that is ours to get to know, individually it’s our task to take what it gives us then decide what to do with it.

So no, sadly, we don’t get to shove that balance beam we were given back into that box that says “fragile” and exchange it for a new one. It’s a one way delivery; and it’s up to you to choose what to do with your balance beam.