The book is SO FAR written by Kelsey Grammer
’’Ordinary human unhappiness
is life in it’s natural color;
nothing to cavil of’’
W. H. Auden
I read this quote in a book a few years back. It must have had an impact on me as I had written it in my ledger and came across it recently. The book I had read was written by Kelsey Grammer, the infamous Dr. Krane from the television comedy (sit-com), Fraiser. The book is entitled, ’’So Far’’.
He opened his book with a page of Auden’s work from ’’Atlantis’’, leading me to believe from the start, he enjoyed this poet’s creativity.
Mr. Grammer wrote the above quote, within his comments on the death of his sister, Karen and the obstacles in life’s roadways.
I quote from his book ’’Trials and triumphs, they come hand in hand. People often ask how I survived it all- they speak of hitting rock bottom and how hard it must have been. But they had no idea. Karen’s death had been my bottom: everything else was a piece of cake. It’s not really my intent to trivialize it, but a line of Auden’s comes to mind: Ordinary human unhappiness is life in it’s natural color; nothing to cavil of And as though those days may not have been so ordinary, they were most decidedly nothing to cavil of. So many trials there were; but looking back: how great the triumph.’’
The meaning of cavil (cav-il)
to object when there is little reason to do so
to make objections about something on small or unimportant points
to resort to trivial fault finding.
Mr. Grammer wrote in his book of his drunk driving charges, marriage, children, cocaine use, work related topics, family and the such. Many, many obstacles, coming to the conclusion that, triumphs were indeed great. How true that statement, I do not know why I didn’t write down that comment in my ledger, as well. I conclude, it was because years back my triumphs were still hazy.
For a certain, people in general, carry the human trait of ’’Why me?’’ We focus on the downfalls, far more than the triumphs. These downfalls, unfortunately come with the package of imperfection, in this old world, whether we like it or not. How we handle them, now that’s where, in lies the solution. and solutions do not create all the answers, in the realm of life, for sure, they are just steps towards different forms of happiness.
The natural color of life does not involve ’’ordinary human unhappiness’’ as Mr. Auden wrote, but what he neglected to say was, we add the remaining colors to the picture. Think about it, for a moment. How bright do we paint the picture of our future, is up to us. Red with anger, jealousy, resentment or blue with insight of peace, calm and enjoyment. It’s up to us just as Mr. Grammer put it ’’how great the triumphs’’
Work by both W. H. Auden and Kelsey Grammer are assuredly my recommendation. Happy reading and happy painting of life.