Why do children get sick with horrible painful illnesses? Why do nice people die young? Why are some unlucky in love when they are so deserving of it? Today, following a series of unfortunate events, one in particular, I was left pondering the topic, "Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?" It is something that I have often thought about when I have found myself struggling for one reason or another, both on and off the track. It feels at the same time both perplexing and unjust.
I think the problem lies in the fact that we often believe that if we live a moral and just life, in turn we are "supposed" to be rewarded with good things. I think that sometimes bad things just happen for no reason, by pure chance. Being a nice person is no guarantee that life won't royally screw you over in some way. If you choose to be a moral person, you do so not because you think you will be treated fairly by "fate" in return, but because it is the only way to maintain your dignity and your identity regardless of what kind of disappointment life throws your way.
You the know old saying, "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger"....well sometimes that is the only way we can truly get through a bad experience, by trusting that there i
s something to be learned at the end of the road, regardless of whether we know what that is right now. I just see it as life on the planet earth; unfortunately, you have to take the bitter with the sweet. Sometimes it's us bearing the consequences of our own actions, sometimes its bearing the brunt of someone else's actions...and sometimes it just is.
The book When Bad Things Happen to Good People, written by Harold S. Kushner, has brought some answers to my question . This book explains and helps to clarify why even though we are not bad people, that sometimes bad things are bound to happen. When Kushner wrote this book I feel that the meaning of his writings were that God does not mean to punish us, he just means to test us and present us with problems and see how we react to them. As put best, he wrote, “The God I believe in does not send us the problem; he gives us the strength to cope with it.” And so we live, we learn, we trust and we move on....knowing that something even greater lies ahead!
