It was the best of times ...

The brilliant starting lines from Charles Dickens' - "The Tale of Two Cities"

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times;
It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness;
It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity;
It was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness;
It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair;
We had everything before us, we had nothing before us"

Life is so full of contradictions, the mind is so full of polarities, it is the ability to see joy in these opposites that makes it worth it!