IT'S NOT FAIR – WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN?

IT'S NOT FAIR – WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN?

It's probably the oldest question in the history of human thought. It's surely the most disturbing, the most frequently asked and the least satisfactorily answered: Why,  do bad things happen?

How do we manage the frustration, anger, helplessness and all the other emotions that flood in when this happens? I never saw one class in school with a title “Dealing with Terminally Ill Children, Parents, Orphan Diseases and Other Unknown Maladies.”

• Is it different looking in or being in the situation?
• Is it different for the doctor than the family?

Yes it is, but why?

Everyday of every week of every year we hear the news on radio and television, we read the news in the paper and we are crammed the news on our social accounts and our internet pages. 

Most of these new feeds are of the bad nature - cause we want to read it! 

We will look at the warm fuzzy news, but we are drawn to the bad.

Everyday of every week of every month there is an awareness day. 

From cancer to autism to energy to child hair loss we are made aware of something new to us, this isn't fair that we have to suffer through these conditions to feel good. 

There is an “official” site ( Chase Calendar of events) -( http://www.mhprofessional.com/templates/chases/special-months.php) for listing awareness days and months. There are som many events, days, weeks and months for all types of activities that seek our attention.

I checked out the site and couldn't find one condition one of my children have - panhypopituitarism. There has been so much advancement in diagnosing this disorder in the past 19 years - I'm just happy that these kids are thriving and are survivors.

Today as I scribe this note I am aware of the good, the bad and the ugly news from around the planet earth. Our family has fostered children that really makes us wonder WHY? From the homeless child to the ones with life threatening diseases and disorders to those whose lives have been taken too soon. 

Today only a few know that we are halfway through a month I knew nothing about 3 years ago. As we brought a beautiful little two year old into our home we had no idea we would be in the middle of Spinal Muscular Awareness month.

The message today is not about SMA awareness month, foster care, syndromes and orphan diseases, childhood cancer month or Juvenile Diabetes month. 

One part of the message today is the question why are innocent children brought into this world and then suffer unbearable conditions that not even some adults can pronounce let alone comprehend. Why are parents left childless - the worse grief anyone can bear. All grief is natural and normal and causes us to examine the relationship and discover that there were things we wish we had ended - differently or better. 

So this blog is questioning why do bad things happen?

If you believe in God, you will have one belief of why. I've found that when most God fearing people ask the question there is a hidden personal pronoun in it asking 'why did God let these things happen to people?' This is an accusation we bring to God, sometimes it is asked out of questioning why we are experiencing a life changing event in our live or in our world.

If you believe in evolution there are other opinions you may believe, but the question is when tragedy strikes, how do we handle it? And who do we blame? When innocent people undergo medical maladies, horrific disasters or when children are hurt or killed, these become particularly challenging times and tests our belief in a caring and just existence.
Every hour of every day a new tear is shed as something horrific happens on planet earth. 

Where are the blessings? 

We do not know why bad things happen to good people. As parents, children of aging parents, as tenants of this earth we can remember that underneath dark clouds the sun is still shining. We all must stop to look for the good to come out of a bad situation. 

So what good comes from a child dying at three or when a elderly family member passes at sixty, or one hundred?

Do these tragedies cause you to reexamine your life? 

• Have you taken time to reevaluate your life? 
• How do you feel and handle when you hear about a family member who is sick? 

We can redeem these tragedies from meaninglessness by imposing our meaning on them.

• What about when you read about a “friend” on social media? 
• Was it easier to once a week to pick up the newspaper and read the obituary page?
• What should our response be to innocent suffering for which there is no good purpose?

Above all should we realize that “bad things that happen to us in our lives do not have a meaning when they happen to us. They do not happen for any good reason….”  However, we can give them a meaning. 

Everyone asks the question:  "Why, do bad things happen?" 

The philosophers, theologians, butchers, bakers and candlestick-makers - No one really answers it.