Why the suffering?

In times like these, faith is sorely tested. There are those that say (as christiananswers.net puts it), “how can a God of love permit such things in His world as war, sickness, pain, and death [and supertyphoons]? Either He is not a God of love and is indifferent to human suffering, or else He is not a God of power and is therefore helpless to do anything about it.”

Christiananswers.net answers the problem by resorting to blind faith: “Whether we understand it or not, whatever God does is, by definition, right.” Perhaps, to the select few who are both called and chosen, that answer satisfies. It does not satisfy those affected by the supertyphoon.

Islam has a similar answer. Says islamqa.info: “All people should know that Allah is All Wise, and that there is great wisdom behind His commands and decrees. He may let His slaves or some of them know the wisdom behind them, or it may be concealed from them as a test and a trial.” Again, the faithful are asked to trust in God.

Buddhists (according to buddhanet.net) say that suffering is inherent in being human: “The first truth is that life is suffering, i.e., life includes pain, getting old, disease, and ultimately death.” We cannot be human and not suffer. This is not exactly “grin and bear it,” but it does paint suffering as something we cannot avoid.

In real life, however, most people do not trust in God nor do they allow suffering if they can help it. Instead of saying that we should leave the supertyphoon victims alone because God will help them anyway, for example, we spend part of our lives finding ways to get to them, giving them back health and homes, helping them regain their dignity and humanity.

Why, indeed, did God send Haiyan or Yolanda?

Allow me to give answers based on Aristotle’s four-fold analysis of tragic drama, which he thought was a good imitation of real life.

First, we suffer (or more precisely, the victims of Yolanda suffer) because we need to suffer to prepare us to avoid greater suffering. If Yolanda had not come, we would not be ready for the really big one that is bound to come. (All those dire predictions because of climate change will come true, sooner or later.) Yolanda has given us a chance to debug our system of disaster management. We now have a chance to build more structurally sound houses in less dangerous sites, to educate people about storm surges and such, to build better communication facilities, to widen our roads, and so on. Aristotle (who was not exactly known to give in to his emotions and therefore did not have our Filipino trait of “malasakit”) would have said that Yolanda was necessary to wake up our disaster management authorities.

Second, we suffer (everyone, not just the Yolanda victims) because we need to clarify to ourselves what we really believe in. Do we really believe in a God of love? Do we really believe in life after death? Do we really believe that human beings (which includes politicians, in case we have forgotten) are inherently good and can sacrifice themselves to save others?

Yolanda has tested and is still testing the inherent goodness of our politicians, from the President to the barangay tanods. Some relief goods are being repacked into bags featuring the names of officials. Some relief goods are being given only to friends and supporters. Some politicians, in other words, are being tested and found wanting. Yolanda has given us a chance to identify those we do not want to remain in office.

Third, we suffer (not just Filipinos in the Philippines, but all Filipinos around the world) in order for us to get rid of our illusions about government. The idea that a complex organization of local and national officials serves our country best has to go, because Yolanda has proven that it does not work. When the local government breaks down because its officials become victims themselves, the national government cannot step in at once because it is so bureaucratic and unable to do away with regulations. Think of the many people who wanted to donate food and clothes to the victims, but had to line up in repacking centers and get themselves accredited. Think of tax collectors not wanting to give up on their antiquated rules in order to allow unrestricted entry of anything at all donated by anybody, well-meaning individuals or smugglers.

Fourth, we suffer (and here, Aristotle merely follows the Buddhists) because suffering defines the human situation. Think of it this way: if there were no suffering on earth, why would anyone want to go to heaven? If no one wanted to go to heaven, why would we try to act ethically at all? As Fyodor Dostoevsky puts it in his novel The Brothers Karamazov, “If there’s no God and no life beyond the grave, doesn’t that mean that men will be allowed to do whatever they want?”

Whether we ourselves suffer or we feel bad that others suffer, a little philosophical reflection might help alleviate the pain.