“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.”
This quote is by Helen Keller, a woman who, although becoming both deaf and blind when she was a young child, learned to speak, read, and write and became a well-known author, speaker, and philanthropist.
Even though I know that there are always going to be people who are suffering in our world, I still sometimes wonder why it needs to be. I realize my questioning is naïve. But I think especially of people, including children, who live in places where there are wars, crime, natural disasters, or insufficient food. So often they are innocent and happen to have been born in and be living in those places when such things happen.
And even though I wonder why, I do know that one of the teachings of Christianity and of most other religious traditions is that suffering is part of what each of us will experience at various times in our lives. And I also believe it is true that persevering through hardships and personal challenges helps us to become more whole and genuine people and to grow in the qualities of courage and having empathy for others. Very likely most of us have seen this happen for people we know and perhaps for ourselves, and there have been many examples of this throughout history. Some of the women and men we most admire from the past have not had easy lives.
So I see the truth of Helen Keller’s words that the world is full of suffering. And I think it’s also essential to remember her words that much suffering is overcome. For that gives us hope.
I know people who have experienced heart-wrenching loss and with time found emotional healing; who have had cancer, endured difficult side effects from the treatment, and the cancer went into remission; whose spouse wanted a divorce and who had hoped to reconcile but the spouse didn’t, and who, after grieving the loss, realized their life was better to no longer be with that person. These are just a few of the many examples of difficult life experiences where people’s suffering was overcome.
And much suffering is overcome with the help of others: friends, family members, mental health professionals, natural healers, treatment program personnel, and so on. Even though it is true that suffering is a part of life, we must remember that making genuine efforts to assist those who are suffering is also something we are called to do.
So I try to remember that times of suffering and also times of overcoming suffering are a part of each of our life journeys. And I also remind myself that our Creator is with us as we go through what we need to go through. And it is also our Creator who makes it possible for us to persevere and to grow from those times of suffering.
