The law of the cosmos is change - do not regret the bitter snows of winter, for the spring could not be half as beautiful without them. And spring is made even more beautiful by the fact that it is so transient - if it lasted forever, how soon would we cease to appreciate it.
And even winter has it's beauty, and it's opportunities. To stand against the cold, and smile at the touch of the snow - to rise above the harshness of the elements and conquer them - here is a simple opportunity for an austere greatness.

So it is with life. Joy would not be so precious were it not transient, were the shadow of past and future sorrow not cast upon it. It is the sorrows we have known, the sorrows that are to come, that make our joys so precious and so beautiful. And sorrow and disappointment carry in themselves great opportunity - the opportunity to rise above them - to climb our dead hopes to greatness, to be strong enough to hope when the weak would despair - to conquer the darkness by turning our faces to the sun.

Ah yes, joy and sorrow, growth and pain - all pass, and all return. Accept them, love them; and as the cycle moves on, grow - grow in courage and strength and contentment and wisdom.
The steel blade howls when it is plunged into the fire, yet it is the fire that makes the blade immortal.
So it is with the souls of men.
So it is with the souls of men.

