What I believe: Making sense of tragedy
If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete. –Viktor Frankl
This week a friend of mine went to work and never came home. His car was hit by a joyrider driving over 100 mph and he died of his injuries in the hospital, leaving behind a beautiful family with two young boys and a loving wife. He was active in our community and left a wide swath of grief as we attempt to make some kind of sense of this tragedy.
Perhaps my friend’s wife, who in the span of 36 hours became a new widow, will experience a great blessing from this horrific event – I certainly hope that this is the case. One of my clients who lost her healthy husband over a year ago after a short illness struggles to understand how this could have happened. What about the parents of the children who have died in these school shootings? How can we find meaning in this?
Some will say “It’s all part of God’s plan.” I don’t know if that is enough. I do believe that some things are fated and beyond our control. I do believe that we have a contract for our life and we do come into this life with an astrological chart that describes our psychological tendencies and a path that we are likely to take. Our free will helps us to make some choices along the way, but when a car hits you from behind at 100 mph there is no choice involved there. That is fate. How to […]