Suffering Isn’t Worthy of Death
Life is hard, but your suffering is not worthy of death. Neither is anyone else’s suffering or potential suffering worthy of death. We all die, but we are not all killed.
Suffering
There is no person on earth that will escape the experience of suffering. It just comes with life, but so too does joy and a host of other emotions and experiences. Whether illness, accidents, rejection and betrayal, pain is a part of our human experience.
I was listening to someone, I don’t recall who, talk about perspective. They said that when Arnold Schwarzenegger was working toward Mr. Olympia, he would scoff at the pain of his workouts. The pain was motivation to press in, to do more. He knew he was making progress when his body hurt. His perspective kept him going. Of course, that was because he was going for a title he wanted. His suffering was not imposed on him, by some outside force.
Still, perspective is important. In Christian circles, for many years, I would hear people preach that, “If you are following God and praying enough, presenting the tithe, and doing all you can for the kingdom, you will have a good life.” That is simply BS! That kind of thinking made it really difficult to love God or His people. It cause a lot of disillusionment. Because, the sun shines on the evil and on the good, and rain falls on the just and the unjust. Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people!
Suffering Isn’t
Suffering isn’t the cosmos’s punishment for sin. It isn’t always because of bad choices, although I may be. If you have read about the work I do and my history, you know there are an awful lot of people suffering from abuse. And that isn’t due to anything the victim or survivor did, but is wholly the responsibility of the perpetrator.
The mental anguish that many people suffer lingers long after the abuse actually happens. Especially if it involves the core violation of sexual abuse. Children suffer intensely, as they are often not able to process events like adults. They cannot distinguish the difference between what is happening to them and what is normal. Suffering isn’t manifested the same way. Each person is different too. Suffering isn’t one thing.
Suffering isn’t confined to physical or emotional or mental, but encompasses all three. A person may suffer poverty, not have enough food, clothing, deprivations of basic needs for safety and security. That suffering may manifest in somatic symptoms: headaches, stomach and digestive problems, exhaustion or hyperactivity. It may affect cognition, making basic learning difficult. Or it could cause problems with anxiety, emotional outbursts, withdrawal, self loathing and suicidal ideology.
Suffering Isn’t Worthy
Suffering isn’t worthy of our desire to banish it from the world. We wish this were the perfectly pleasant world of our dreams. The fact remains, it isn’t. A lot of times, if we just step back and ask, why am I suffering this or that, we can see a pattern or cause. Sometimes, we just need to think about what we’ve been thinking about. Other times, we might notice that we have been staying up too late, or eating bad foods, or getting dehydrated. We get warn out.
There are circumstances that will trigger an emotional response that isn’t appropriate to what’s going on and we may need to be dealing with past wounds. We may need to get some help. Often times, a friend or peer with a willing ear to listen as we process is sufficient. We may need a professional, but the key is to get through it and not try to get around it.
We need to feel to heal.
Suffering isn’t a destination. In the USA and many other countries, we have access to relief. It can take a great deal of effort to find the right person to help. That may be a doctor, a psychologist, some kind of physical or massage therapist. Maybe it’s a social worker or an employment help center. It could be a family member. Suffering isn’t worthy of our focus for longer than it takes to find the purpose and a way of dealing with it.
Suffering Isn’t Worthy of Death
Most suffering is generally temporary. I have chronic fatigue syndrome, which means I am in pain all of the time. It is occasionally at a 3, on a scale from 1-10. It has been a while since I would answer 7-9, consistently, but it happens. The pain isn’t worthy of death, though. I still love my life. The suffering is only a part of our experience here. There is so much more. More joy and wonder and intrigue. More purpose.
We all experience suffering. It’s part of the journey. There are people who are so opposed to suffering that they would kill people who suffer. Suffering is not worthy of death. Most suffering is a temporary state.