Owen Kolbrenner
Photography by Greer Diaz
If you’re reading this, you are lucky.
It’s hard to be grateful. It takes effort to step outside of yourself and notice how lucky you are to be here. It’s easy to take life for granted and get distracted by how fast it’s moving, but you might look up one day to realize how much time has passed and how many moments are slipping by without you noticing.
Especially when things are hard, gratitude feels almost impossible. But I like to think about grief or sadness as a privilege. If you’ve lost someone, what a privilege to have known them, laughed at their jokes, learned from them, or just been with them. If you miss home or the people you love, what a privilege to care so deeply for people hundreds or thousands of miles away. Just as we only know light because of darkness, we only know joy because of pain.
Love isn’t just the time you get with someone, it’s the way they stay with you even when they’re gone. To hurt because of love is proof that it was there in the first place. When it all feels overwhelming or you get sad, step outside, take a breath of fresh air, and remember what a privilege it is to live this weird, beautiful life.
Owen K., University of Wisconsin
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