I appreciate life

I've been thinking the difference that exists between when you say you enjoy something and when you truly appreciate it. I'm sure this doesn't exactly follow dictionary definitions of the words, but I think that enjoyment involves simple pleasure, whereas appreciation entails the effort and hard work that it takes to come to understand something thoroughly. For example, I would say that before I read Walter Lewin's book I enjoyed rainbows, but know I can say that I appreciate rainbows because I know how they work (although, granted, not perfectly).

It's this way with a lot of things in life. You can enjoy a good meal, but until you are faced with having to make it yourself (i.e. until college) you can't truly appreciate it. You can enjoy good weather, but unless you've lived somewhere where there's crappy weather all the time, you can't completely appreciate the gorgeous, crisp, fall days. The same goes for life: you can appreciate it, but unless you're pushed to your limits and face trials and challenges you can't fully appreciate life. So, some food for thought: are there some aspects of life which you are passively enjoying instead of actively appreciating?

This has nothing to do with anything...

I know I tend to take a lot of things for granted, although coming here to college has helped me see how much I have. I appreciate food easily ten times as much as I did in high school, because now I realize how difficult it is to come by (free food or homemade food). Letters are also really important, and I have to say getting a letter in the mail makes my day, every time. I appreciate transportation now that I'm walking everywhere (except for when I don't mooch off of my sister's fiance...). Man, it was nice having a car this past summer. Also, family, and everything that comes from living at home. Being super far away has made me appreciate how nice it was to have my laundry done, and to have little brothers and sisters bug me while I was doing homework -- or do fun things with like watch movies, or go to random dams in the middle of... somewhere, I think (that did happen). I also appreciate church a lot more since I'm putting forth more effort to make sure I'm living my life as I should be.

Am I doing perfectly? Certainly not. I can't say that I appreciate modern art. Not in the least bit. I just can't understand what the point is, what the artist is trying to say. And same goes for a lot of literature, film, architecture... and I don't think I can say that I appreciate the humanities. The mountains here? I've climbed Timpanogos, but I'm not going to count that, so I don't think I can say that I appreciate the mountains either, since I haven't experienced the cruel, harsh reality that climbing a mountain presents. The list goes on too. But am I going to stop trying to gain a greater understanding of everything that surrounds me? No. Am I going to live my life passively, enjoying the good parts that come my way? No! If there's one thing that I don't want to be, it's passive. Although I undoubtedly have not had the sorest trials in life, I have been challenged, and I have put forth a lot of effort to come to understand the life that surrounds me, so I think it would be fair to say that, on some level, I appreciate life.

Edit: I just watched Walter Lewin's lecture on rainbows and I think it's interesting to note that he makes a similar differentiation: at the beginning of the lecture he tells the class that they have looked at rainbows, but have not yet seen them.