On Suffering and Struggle

While perusing blogs for inspiration on what to do with mine (as you can see, so far it's pretty bare), I stumbled upon an entry on Ms. Therese J. Borchard's fantastic blog Beyond Blue titled "Why Does God Allow Suffering?"

Check it out: http://blog.beliefnet.com/beyondblue/2009/11/hope-god-and-suffering-the-usu.html

Her post triggered a memory of a quote I love by a man who has long been a hero for me, and a great source of inspiration: Abraham Lincoln, sufferer of severe depression himself.

Here's the quote, titled "Meditation on the Divine Will":

"The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God’s purpose is something different from the purpose of either party; and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect his purpose. I am almost ready to say that this is probably true; that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By his mere great power on the minds of the now contestants, he could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And, having begun, he could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds."

My understanding of this meditation is that Lincoln believed that the existence of the Civil War - "the contest" - was not simply an accident, a cataclysmic clash between men. It was willed by God.

I don't care whether or not you believe in God, or whether or not you understand the specifics of the Civil War (I certainly don't for the latter). Lincoln's words are universal - they cross the constraints of historical eras and geographical locations - they apply to all situations in all times.

Just think: Why is there still suffering today? Why do we fight for luxury, for advancement, for status, for "dignity" - for the finer things in life - when so much of the world struggles for the basic necessities of existence?

How could anyone who might hold the reins to the world allow this? I mean, it just doesn't seem conscionable.

Yet the contest proceeds.

It seems Lincoln would say that all of this suffering is for a reason. For it gives us reason to fight, reason to unite, and reason to push ourselves to the limits of our potential and beyond in order to struggle for what we believe in.

Struggle is the fire that forges greatness.

-David

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