The Problem of Pain: Rachel Weeps
It took me a while to be able to write about this. On several news programs last night, each with only part of the horror, it was said that a young woman from Staten Island, struggling in the storm surge of Hurricane Sandy, was trying to save herself and her two children, but they were torn from her arms into the water.
Yesterday, searchers found the bodies of the children, ages two and four.
I cannot begin to comprehend the grief and guilt that woman must be feeling. It impels one to scream at the sky, yelling "What did I do that was so evil that You had to do this to my children? What did I do that was so evil that You had to do this to me? What did I do, You Gormless Bastard? What? WHAT?!?"
Calling it a "severe mercy" as C. S. Lewis and Sheldon Vanauken did isn't enough for me. In a universe in which the laws of physics provide for chemistry, biology, and the evolution of life which is self-aware, which can think intelligently and feel emotionally, the need to anthropomorphize an external Deity and displace the blame onto It is overwhelming.
There is no good side to this, despite what religious people might say. Gods and Goddesses are the internal creations of men and women, not the other way around. How can we deal with such tragedy as mortal men and women? What is the solution to the problem of pain?
I don't think there is one. I have never been able to put aside the things which cause me this kind of pain and grief, and I don't think I ever will. In turn, my contempt increases for those with so little empathy for their brothers and sisters they cannot comprehend their pain, even more so for those who deliberately cause it.
In the meantime, Rachel continues to weep for her lost children, a weeping which will not stop.
Yesterday, searchers found the bodies of the children, ages two and four.
I cannot begin to comprehend the grief and guilt that woman must be feeling. It impels one to scream at the sky, yelling "What did I do that was so evil that You had to do this to my children? What did I do that was so evil that You had to do this to me? What did I do, You Gormless Bastard? What? WHAT?!?"
Calling it a "severe mercy" as C. S. Lewis and Sheldon Vanauken did isn't enough for me. In a universe in which the laws of physics provide for chemistry, biology, and the evolution of life which is self-aware, which can think intelligently and feel emotionally, the need to anthropomorphize an external Deity and displace the blame onto It is overwhelming.
There is no good side to this, despite what religious people might say. Gods and Goddesses are the internal creations of men and women, not the other way around. How can we deal with such tragedy as mortal men and women? What is the solution to the problem of pain?
I don't think there is one. I have never been able to put aside the things which cause me this kind of pain and grief, and I don't think I ever will. In turn, my contempt increases for those with so little empathy for their brothers and sisters they cannot comprehend their pain, even more so for those who deliberately cause it.
In the meantime, Rachel continues to weep for her lost children, a weeping which will not stop.