Grateful for All of It

Nov 21

Anderson Cooper: “You told an interviewer that you have learned to, in your words, ‘love the thing that I most wish had not happened.’ You went on to say, ‘What punishments of God are not gifts?’ Do you really believe that?”

—

“Yes. It’s a gift to exist; and with existence, comes suffering. There’s no escaping that. But, if you’re grateful for your life, then you have to be grateful for all of it. And so, at a young age, I suffered something so that, by the time I was in serious relationships in my life—with friends, or with my wife, or with my children—I had some understanding that everybody is suffering. And however imperfectly: acknowledge their suffering, and connect with them and love them in a deep way that makes you grateful for the fact that you have suffered—so that you can know that about other people. I want to be the most human I can be, and that involves acknowledging and, ultimately, being grateful for the things that I wish didn’t happen; because they gave me a gift.” — Stephen Colbert