The questions is as old as the ages, and has been asked in every language and in every religion. If God is loving and kind, then why do we have suffering in this world?
We are given many kinds of answers to this question: theologians will speak about free will and original sin. Others will blame the power of evil and darkness. But when you are the one struggling, these answers do not really speak to the heart and soul.
Elizabeth Kubler Ros offers a more profound answer. She is quoted as saying The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.
To explain away pain is to cheapen human suffering. To acknowledge it, to struggle and rise from the depths, that is the goal of every human sufferer. And we see this in individuals who have endured much, but not let that pain embitter them. They are powerful souls because they know suffering, and do not try to explain it away. They instead offer compassion, sensitive to the vulnerabilities of life, and the need for encouragement.
Beautiful people do not just happen. They are born of suffering, struggle, loss and defeat.
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