An Analysis Of David Brooks 's ' What Suffering Does Pain ``

suffering is present in the world, but also accept the fact that there is nothing we humans can

Suffering. All of us have encountered suffering and many of us wish we never would have to again; however, what many people do not see is that since we have suffering, we have happiness. One can not exist without the other. Without this feeling of suffering or unhappiness, we would not be able to understand happiness or even know it as a pleasant feeling, since we would never have experienced a life of unhappiness. Journalist David Brooks in “What Suffering Does” and Buddhist Monk Matthieu Ricard in “The Alchemy of Suffering” gave their own input upon the relationship between suffering and happiness. They seem to mention how every person endures suffering, but what is important is not the suffering itself, but the way a person changes or reacts to the suffering. While one may hate suffering, we have to understand that one can not be happy without having suffered. The characterization of emotional suffering as “rewarding” to people fails to account for individuals who have undergone the death of their spouse and have come out of it a changed person. In fact, in the 21st century, pervasive media advertising through television advances western cultural expectations of “perfection”, that in part advance suffering.

There are many differing ways that people suffer. Some effects can be superior and some can be inferior. In the quote by H. Richard Niebuhr, suffering can make you stronger, have more character, along with respect.

Suffering is an obstacle that everyone has to confront at all times in their life. Most of time, suffering is painful. However, if people consider it as a chance for learning, they can gain a broader appreciation of life and success. They will grow one step further in the process of overcoming and stepping out from the disincentive. However, confronting suffering is not necessarily drawing the beneficial consequences: sometimes, suffering seems ultimately pointless. It may ruin people devastatingly and even lead them to the dehumanization by drawing out their negative hidden traits. A Long Way Gone--a book of Ishmael’s dreadful memories of being a boy soldier and the atrocious truth of the war--and Othello--a tragedy of jealousy, vengeance, and love--indicate those two

Suffering is a part of life, just like joy and love is. We can never choose how life treats us, but we can always choose how we react and get back up again. Through Fever 1793 we see up close and personal how suffering can affect us, and how sometimes it can affect us in positive ways. How suffering can help turn the page to the next chapter in our lives. How suffering doesn’t always mean losing, but also gaining.

Evidently, suffering can give a person strength to go on in their daily lives. Being

Hardships have the power to make a break a person, as Roman poet, Horace, once said, “Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant”. Everyone has or will have to face adversity at some point in their lives, it is a universal truth. Although misfortunes usually have a negative connotation, depending on the struggle and how one deals with it, it is likely the person will come out of misfortune better prepared for the world. Contrastly, if a person never experienced any hardships, they would lack a sophisticated understanding of the world and lack the ability to handle difficult situations. Adversity gives people strength they can not obtain with success.

Suffering compels you to look up and long for your heavenly redemption (Ps. 121; Rom. 8:18; 2 Cor. 4:17).

Some may say that suffering doesn’t help, it only hurts, but in reality, it does help, it helps you mold you into the person you are today. One way this is shown is through the suffering of people throughout history. If you look back at groups of people throughout history you can see how suffering has changed and in cases improved conditions. Something else is that suffering really can change a person’s character and help them develop credibility.

“Suffering” is a word which carries negative connotations, used to incite pity, empathy or fear. Why would it not? Is suffering not simply agony, defined justly by the Oxford Dictionary as “the state of undergoing pain, distress, or hardship” (“Suffering)? Yet, we accept suffering as part of life, a fundamental aspect that defines living. Nietzsche tells us that the very act of living is suffering itself, but to survive is to find value in that suffering. Yet, what sort of value can be attached to an idea so negative? Pico Iyer’s editorial in the New York Times explores the value of suffering, likening suffering to passion and “[p]assion with the plight of other’s makes for ‘compassion’” (________________).I began to think upon the cohesive

Everyone goes through suffering at some point in their lives, but many of them never really understand why a good, loving God allows them to go through this pain. Sometimes, it is even hard for them to trust God in their lives when they are going through suffering. They start to question God because if He is such a good and loving God, why would He not just take away their suffering. What most of them don't realize, though, is that God never actually wanted people to go through suffering. It was actually the fault of mankind that there is suffering because they sinned and turned away from God. Although it is not God who causes suffering, He still uses it for good. Many times, God uses it to draw people closer to Him because if they are going through pain, they are very likely to turn to Him. He also teaches lessons to those who suffer and shows who He wants them to be. God is at work in many lives transforming suffering into something great even if it does not seem good at the time. Although humans view suffering as horrible, God has a plan for the future.

When people go through something difficult it can change them. Making them who they are, it can change them for the bad or good. Therefore, hardships can greatly influence a person’s life by making them appreciate all the things that make life enjoyable.

Our experiences of suffering may also help us in our moral conduct as an experience of suffering serves to make us sympathetic to the trials of others. We learn to a) help the afflicted (through consolation and relief) and to B) not inflict harm on others, having experienced suffering ourselves. Furthermore, many spiritual seekers in the past have felt that suffering and spiritual progress are inexorably linked, pointing to St Teresa of Avila and St Francis of AssisiI as examples . I believe that if we can learn from our

Another question that arises is why there is suffering in the world in the first place. The answer to that question should be fairly obvious. At the beginning of the world, the Creation was perfect. There was no sin. However, after the Fall, sin entered the world, and death by sin. Now everything in the Creation is dead in sin. From the moment that someone is born,

I believe suffering results from our separation from God. He is holy, all-powerful, all-loving, all that is good. Each day I find myself doing things that move me away from Him. Every time I sin, the world becomes a little bit worse. I can do no good thing apart from God. The more I separate myself from Him, the more likely I am to cause someone else harm or pain.