More things that amuse me...

In Spanish there is a saying, vale la pena, literally meaning it is worth the pain. I guess you could say the same thing in English, but normally we say it's worth IT. That ambiguous IT. I've always wondered why the Spanish felt the need be morbid and tack on "la pena" (the pain). But now I wonder why the English have been so ambiguous as to use "IT".

What does "it was worth it" mean? We usually use the phrase after some amazing experience that began with some form of struggle. Thus we can conclude "it" refers to the struggle. It sounds nicer. We forget about the pain it took to get to that amazing spot. It's all in the results, the outcome. But in doing so, are we not trivializing all it took to get there?

Yes. There was pain. Lots of pain. But the pain was worth it. I like the fact that the Spanish acknowledge the struggle. That it (whatever it might be) wasn't all peachy. But it was so amazing that you are willing to trade off some pain for it. And to be quite honest, when looking at it in that sense, not much vale la pena. For what would you suffer again and again and again because what you received was worth the pain?

Those scarce few things are the important things in life. Valió la pena, ahuvi.