We seem to live in a world more and more subject to suffering. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed.
Responding to suffering has become part of our regular experience each day, each week. People suffer, whether our friends, our families, or someone we have never met on the other side of the world. Our hearts and our minds are filled with images of distress and devastation. Each new tragedy pushes those that went before it into the background.
Some suffering is outside our immediate control. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis arrive without warning and with immediacy. We do what we can to anticipate and prepare for the devastation they cause, and work to respond well. We offer assistance and, when we can, we help suffering people in person.
Some suffering is caused by people. We employ violence as a weapon, as a tool of public policy. We impose suffering on other people to further our own ends. People take hostages, and execute them. People inflict injustices on other people, and those people express their frustrations and anger. We abuse each other, acting as though we can solve our problems with force.
We work hard to respond to suffering wisely. Some of us sacrifice our own desires to contribute to respond when other people suffer. Some of us organize efforts to help people who need it. We may put ourselves in other people’s places, feeling their suffering. We may see ourselves as potential future sufferers. Some of us change the direction of our lives to help meet the needs of suffering people every day.
Responding to suffering is difficult, valuable work. We pray and work out how we can best respond.
How do you respond well to suffering in the world?
Where is the suffering that is drawing you to respond?
[Image by erix!]
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