why do bad things happen?

[starduchess]

This has long been a question that people of asked through the ages of each other and of religions, along with it's corollary "why does God allow bad things to happen?", and most people never get a satisfactory answer

Comments

[fancypantsdylan]

Honey I applaude you for this, it's definitely a very interesting topic, for me I think I'd go with the first one, am not religious and if someone tried to tell me it was the 'will of god' or some such nonsense, I'd likely slap them, LOL, plus this is more my overview of this anyone.

Thanks for sharing *hugs* - Sarah

[starduchess]

Thanks. It's not a topic people find easy to talk about, but having a few thought-out answers ahead of time might help. I'm not saying all of these things are valid--maybe none of them are--but at least it's something to go on.

*hugs you back*

[ningloreth]

I'm not sure you'll want to read this, and writing it has made me cry, but...

I'm certainly with you on the chaos, the crap luck, and the time to go, but my gut responses to 5 & 6 are coloured by my own experience:

5) Thirteen years of excruciating loneliness (being left by my husband, which was devastating; losing both my parents to cancer; being made redundant in between; having had to up sticks and move to the other end of the country) has gradually worn me down, making me tired, fat, infirm, and more and more reclusive. I used to feel a good ten years younger than I was (and people responded accordingly); now I feel very, very old, and hopeless. On the tenth anniversary of my husband's leaving, a switch seemed to flick in my head and misery became anger, and things have been much worse since. It's no longer because he went, it's because nothing I've done, none of the things I've tried, none of the effort I've made, has ever replaced the hole he left. Every day I just congratulate myself that I'm managing to keep living.

6) I

[starduchess]

Caveat one: Not all of these reasons will always be valid in every case, and none of them might actually be correct. It's just a collection of different answers I came up with over the years.

Caveat two: It was not my intention to make anyone cry or insult anyone's pain. I hope it didn't come across that way.

*hugs you tight* oh, I wish I could jump across the ocean and give you a real hug. Loneliness sucks; I understand that. But at the same time it is still a condition that is slowly shaping your life and your character. Maybe not the way you would like it to or the way you envision yourself to be, but it is happening.

One of my favourite books recently, Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold, had a little bit to say on this issue. In the story, one of the characters had been demon-gnawed several years prior and when he finally got those pieces of his soul back, he remembered what an evil person he had been. He was now trying to reconcile his old self with his current self and ended up loathing his whole being. Ista tells him,

[ningloreth]

Oh no, I didn't mean that you'd made me cry, I meant I'd made myself cry, replying.

have you tried joining some group or activity?

Like I said, I've worn out the T-shirts! I've tried evening classes, study days, weekend study workshops, group holidays; I've had three jobs (three different work places); I've also gone to exhibitions, museums, monuments and eaten in the restaurants...

For years!

In desperation, I tried speed dating. I even tried to join an introduction agency but they wouldn't have me!

[starduchess]

Well, then, I don't know what else to say.

*hugs you more*

[kohrin]

You've done some serious pondering on the subject, huh? Well, rather obvious, and you make some good points

[starduchess]

I've often wondered if my friend with the one eye who posed the initial question was made with one eye just so I could be forced to come up with these answers. LOL! {kinda falls under #6)

Balance is another good answer; I can definitely see that. My husband might say "cycle" or "circle" which has its own aspect of balance.

"Good" and "bad", as well as "wrong" and "right", are human concepts; animals don't seem bothered by these issues. Our brains have developed these to explain choices we make.

Thanks for sharing your ideas!