Reflective Essay: The Power Of Suffering

You do not suffer, yet you call yourself smart, who is your teacher? For he who has endured pain and suffering beholds the power of perseverance, character, strength and hope, he is the best teacher. Suffering is defined as the state of undergoing pain, distress or even hardship, it is derived from the Latin word ‘sufferre’, sub- ‘from below’ and ferre ‘to bear’. Through suffering we learn life lessons about ourselves, about the world and even about God. However, it is often asked why would God create a world in which we must endure such suffering? Furthermore, we take many things for granted and overlook the teachings that can come from the suffering and misfortune of ourselves and others. Many individuals do not realise that through reflection …show more content…
This comes down to the fact that we are able to understand what they are going through, as from our own suffering we learn to be compassionate towards others when they are suffering. An example of this is when Mary, the mother of Jesus, stood by her son as he suffered a violent death at the hands of another (Johnson, 2003). Mary endured the pain of outliving her child, and a pain like hers never truly goes away (Johnson, 2003). Additionally, numerous mothers can also relate to Mary’s suffering (Johnson, 2003), as they too have also fallen victims to such violent public deaths of their children. These mothers have suffered similarly to Mary and it is because of this suffering that upon reflection they are able to empathise and show compassion towards …show more content…
Would it be a better world? No, as children of a certain age would be deemed indestructible and cause chaos and havoc around the world (Williams, 2009). Furthermore, parents would not care for their children as conscientiously (Williams, 2009), as knowing that their child could not potentially die would cause them to not feel that their child needs protection from the harshness of the world. However, when the child turns twelve, what is to happen to that child (Williams, 2009)? The child would not be capable enough to cope with the dangerous situations that they may find themselves confronted with (Williams, 2009), as the child would have never been exposed to such experiences. Furthermore, we need to know that we are vulnerable to the many dangers of the world as knowing that death is inevitable is what makes life meaningful (Williams, 2009). Thus why, rather than answering all our prayers God stands aside and allows humans to learn and grow from their suffering, allowing them to find