to count the blessing

It is probably worth mentioning, more than once or twice, that I feel that I have been very lucky in my misfortunes. Nietzsche proclaims this phenemenon in terms of people who are strong enough for everything to work out well for them.

Let me count the blessings:

1. I had a great and robust early education in a kind of neo-romantic geographic and social environment.

2. Although I was thoroughly rejected by my parents for the social role that I was destined to play, as someone's housewife or "woman" (see the Masaai culture and the way that girls are cast out from the village to become wives of a different tribe), I became very thick-skinned and self-reliant on the basis of this rejection.

3. I turned my cultural alienation and a workplace bullying situation into a desperate intellectual hunger, which I then fed. This has now borne fruit, as I am writing a very important (which is to say, culturally and politically relevant thesis regarding Zimbabwe) thesis.

4. I turned my necessity to defend myself against hostile opposition into a capacity to spar. I can do so quite well.

5. Due to the negative experiences I've had I've clarified my thinking and determination to the point where I am now doing exactly what I would have wanted to do, rather than something I would settle for.

6. I was turned out of my African home, but live in Perth where there is a beach, and the weather is generally not shit.

7. Due to my unnatural hardships (in terms of first world standards and expectations) I have developed insight into all sorts of things I would otherwise have not had insight into. Had I remained in a situation that was tame and safe, I would probably not have the psychological background to write my thesis, or take the risks that led to my meeting Mike.

8. I've learned to rise above what other people think of me, and to see the fallacies of reason hidden in their value judgments.

9. I've learned to distinguish between good-value friendships and those that are merely mutually exploitative.

10. Consequently, I am not neurotic, and fight well.