The basic problem with all mortal lives is death – and that is why from a purely mortal perspective all lives must be seen as a failure.

Some lives are a success when considered from the context of eternity.

-thus Bruce Charlton.  If you limit yourself to only one internet read this week, make it the essay I pulled that from.  It captures the mix in life: how sometimes we seem to be living in the middle of light, and sometimes it all seems like dirt and unhappiness.