The 14th Dalai Lama on life's difficulties:

If there is trouble, some understanding brings a benefit from it.

Life becomes useful when you confront a difficulty; it provides a kind of value for your life to have the kind of responsibility to confront it and overcome it. Whereas if you do not feel such difficulties, there's no such responsibility, no role for you to play in your life. . . . That challenge allows you to practice your ability.

Basically, the purpose of life is to serve other people. From that point of view, a difficulty is really a great opportunity. I have often said that our generation of Tibetans is seeing the saddest part in all of Tibetan history. So from that angle it is . . . a great honor, a great privilege . . . to face these times, to confront them.
 

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