Life Is Black

Human beings are unique in the vast range of emotion that we experience. Thus with happiness there is also sadness; with triumph there is also failure. As a society we prefer to emphasize the former of the pairs and minimize the latter. Epstein normalized despair as part of the human condition. He urged those who experience despair (every one of us) to seek out others for perspective; and to be there for others when they experience this depth of no hope. I often find that when we are with someone who is in despair, we get in touch with our own feelings of anxiety, depression, fear, and mortality. As a result, we may want to push this away from us by offering solutions or answers in order to fix the situation.