In antiquity, at the age of seven, Spartan boys were taken from their mothers to be trained as warriors. Today, while most boys in the United States are going to school, eating well, playing, and receiving love, Spartan boys were having their very life and limb threatened. Right from the outset, they were taught hand to hand combat, sometimes having their skulls crushed by a peer who got the better of them.
As the boys matured, the fighting got more intense. Fists and the occasional rock were replaced by sticks and wooden swords. And these were not battles that were monitored for safety by adults. The boys would sometimes fight to the death. When the boys reached their teens, to toughen them up, they were whipped on the back repeatedly. The boy who lasted the longest was honored and revered by his peers and adults alike. At times, the parents participated by screaming encouragement for their boy to stand and take it.
Spartan women were known for their toughness as well. Occasionally, a suitor would try to force himself on a woman. If she did not fight him off, she was his. If she did, she had her freedom.
This is certainly suffering that was culturally acceptable. But consider the cruelty of the age. When born, if a child had any birth defect, he or she was left out in the cold, alone to die. A weak child could not grow to protect Sparta. In birth and death, one was only concerned about honoring and protecting the state.
But there has been other great suffering throughout time.
What of the early Christians. Beginning with the apostles, all died at the hands of man. Some were crucified, others were skinned alive. And of course you are familiar with all the Christians who were fed to the lions or lined the Roman roadways on crucifixes-crucifixion being one of the most horrendous ways to die. As the body suffocates, sometimes a person would last for days, upwards of a week agonizing in excruciating pain.
But others have suffered, as well.
What of those who have been tortured, tarred and feathered, beaten, raped, drawn and quartered? What of those who suffer in war, as many did in the Civil War, like those who had their legs and / or arms removed to only be tossed into a pile as others soon to have the same done to them watched and listened to the horror and screams.
For many, these are not pleasant notions or sights, nor do they bring to mind the blessings of life and all its wonder and joy so many speak of in a more positive light. But even today, we have many dying from starvation, many having their liberties, health, and very lives taken not necessarily for being malicious or evil or even for doing anything wrong, but for merely being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Why all this suffering?
But that is not all, for there are other types of suffering.
We suffer when a loved one dies. We suffer when we break from a relationship or someone breaks from us. We suffer for missing a parent or both parents throughout the majority of our lives, never receiving the touch and love that is so much needed in this world, today and all days that have come and will come. We suffer when we lose all possessions, are fired from our job, acquire a life-threatening disease.
What of all this suffering, loss, loss of hope, hopelessness, pain, turmoil, anguish, and pain, pain, pain, pain? What of all the world's pain that if piled up since the dawn of humankind would reach to the stars and beyond?
What of this pain?
What do we do?
Do we simply despair?
Some believe that we suffer for a reason. That we suffer for our sins. That we suffer to learn what is important. That we suffer for our eternal education and edification. Some say that suffering is a part of the mortal process that we can only learn best by doing so. In
Man's Search For Meaning, Vickor E Frankl and others who were put into concentration camps in WWII simply for being Jewish, speak to the blessings of meaning and understanding they would have never obtained without such suffering.
Is this too much? Is this too much for our human minds to take? Suffering in such absolute horror and despair . . . a blessing? What of this way of thinking? Certainly there are those who have suffered and died without blessings. What of the 40 million abortions annually, young lives taken to never see the goodness of life. But perhaps our vision and understanding is limited. What do we know of where the suffering go after death and the blessings they may encounter that we will never see.
But this is not of our concern. What is of concern is the living. What do the living say?
I personally, have suffered great financial loss; nearly died from cancer; emotional loss, living alone most of my life with family that never showed cause for my concern, one that still doesn't call me-possible reason for my living 3000 miles away. I have seen money come and go. I have seen lovers come and go. I have seen health come and go. I have seen hope come and go, for most of my youth I was suicidal.
But what do I see now? I see now that which I would have never seen without the trials of life, such great beauty, depth and breadth, an understanding that goes beyond our existence here.
I have obtained remarkable and amazing insights that would have never been given without suffering. I have come to peace with myself, my family, my fellow humans, and my God.
I have been given a family of my own beyond that which I was born into, one that loves me, honors me, looks up to me. I have been given financial blessings now. Yes, even in these times of disperse, such blessings as I have never seen, blessings that can only set me to wonder as I consider my lack of worthiness. The windows of heaven have opened, pouring down blessings in abundance, too many to count.
But getting back to the original question, why? Why the abundance of despair, for no one gets out of here alive without being touched by its cold hand. Is there not knowledge gained? Knowledge of great merit and purpose that goes beyond the grave?
I have learned.
I have learned through toughness of trials that despair is a state of mind. It only exists if you buy into the propaganda. For I have seen great beauty and meaning; the constant vigilance and sacrifice required to maintain it; and the depth of despair that is mandated that we must come through to obtain the peace of blessings of knowledge, understanding, eternal wisdom even. I am like Viktor E. Frankl who in the depth of his despair not knowing whether his wife was alive or dead saw the razor sharp vision of his love for his wife, its meaning and purpose that which expanded and extended in its alabaster purity beyond the grave.
Oh, yes, I have been there and back. I have been there and back. And the wonder I have found is beyond words, human expression even; but the blessings of adhering to the goodness that abounds outside of suffering, regardless of the amount of suffering, is there to lift up in all times of need, to instruct, to bless, enliven, quicken, and bring you to a true understanding of meaning.
Oh yes, I have been there and back. I have been there and back.
Won't you join me?
