Is It Tragic or Magic?

This week I was thinking of one of my parents friends. About 15 years ago their daughter (who was 19) was the passenger in a car that had a major accident. Unfortunately their daughter died. What is more tragic is that her parents stopped a lot of their own life then as well.  While their life continued, their focus was on their loss. Whenever they did something or went anywhere, there was always discussion about their daughter.

To me that is tragic. More the loss of their life than the loss of their daughters.


Life is full of bad things happening to good people. The question that is the biggest waste of time and energy is, Why. In my experience, you will never get an answer that satisfies you. There is always a further Why. The healthiest question is, What can I do about it? This gives you a course of action and a way forward.

Is your life Tragic or Magic?


For most of us, it can be either. It is completely dependent on your perspective. Take my own life. I could easily look at it being quite tragic.

• I grew up in a small country town where I didn’t drink or play sport so I never “fitted in”
• Just as I was in my formative years I got sent to a school 90 minutes away on the bus.
• It took me 12 months to settle in to the new school and make friends.
• It was too far away to have friends over after school so I couldn’t consolidate my friendships
• I had to work on the farm and regularly cook for a family of 5
• We had a massive vegetable garden I had to maintain
• I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up so I “fell” into a uni course I wasn’t keen on.

Or it could be Magic

• I grew up in a country town so I got to breathe fresh air and see the stars at night. It also gave me a friendly approach to people and an ability to talk to anyone
• I was fortunate enough to go to school with high academic standard to set me up with a top class education
• Having friends from all over the place enabled me to get some varied perspectives on life
• I learn’t to cook at a young age and could handle catering for larger numbers with ease
• While I lived at home I ate organic vegetables without realising such a thing existied – I called them Vegetables!
• I didn’t know what I wanted to do after school so I took on a double degree to give me options for the future.

Zig Ziglar said that our attitude determines our altitude. Tragedies will strike, challenges will be faced, terrible things will happen to fabulous people and life will go on. It is up to us as individuals whether we see it as Tragic or Magic.


How do you see your life and your world? Is it Tragic or Magic?