The world isn't all sunshine and lollipops

Not to be more depressing than I normally am, but a series of events this last year have have made me really open to quotes like this one:

Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.
Voltaire (1694 - 1778)

None of the various misfortunes that led me to this post are my own, but it still is sad to see. A friend of ours was recently diagnosed with cancer at the age of 23. Another family that was friend of our family growing up has been hit with several blows lately. First their youngest son died unexpectedly of a heart condition, he hadn't yet graduated high school. More recently the Mother and Father where hit by a drunk driver on while on a motorcycle trip in Mexico; the Father was killed and the Mother may not make it. They have two surviving daughters that I swam with all through my childhood, and I cannot imagine their grief.

In our own family the girlfriend of my brother is struggling with illness, and a family that feels very cold next to our own. Finally and slightly more distantly a friend far off who left the Northwest after much struggle to make it here lost most everything in a fire that destroyed her condo.

Mind you I know that other have it worse, but it still makes my heart sad. If I'm not smiling I have looking for a reason to smile the last few months, but keep coming up short.