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Juxtaposition
Life’s sense of humour
Juxtaposition is a luxurious word — a bit showy, but with an edge of precise utility. It means this:
“…an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, esp. for comparison or contrast” — thefreedictionary.com
I experienced it strongly yesterday as the pain of bad news landed at almost the exact same moment as a nation’s joy exploded over a key goal in an important soccer match. Both events hit the people in the room simultaneously and they didn’t know what to do with themselves.
Throughout our lives, emotions need to exist together that we feel aren’t meant to. We want to know what we’re supposed to be — happy or sad — not both at the same time.
Life is a glorious mess. A rollercoaster, a pendulum, a pinball machine. Often experiences and making sense of them have to happen at different times.
