Bad times are inevitable in everybody’s lives, but some question: what good can come from the bad? First published on April 7, 2014, the article “What Suffering Does,” by New York Times columnist and PBS News Hour commentator, David Brooks, digs into this idea through claims that suffering plays a major role in people’s lives because it helps them grow as people (Behrens). Brooks states that happiness is just one piece of “the human drama” and suffering is the other (Behrens). Brooks’ topic of discussion is relevant in everyone’s lives because it is a topic everyone experiences first-hand, and he logically argues through examples that support his claims throughout the article.
Brooks’ biggest points are that suffering provides opportunities to get an outsider’s point of view, better understand what others are experiencing, and help people learn more about themselves (567). Brooks argues that even though people’s main goal in life is to pursue happiness, hardship is what forms individuals (566). Brooks …show more content…
First, he states that today’s society focuses on being happy, and then goes on to say that over a three month span in 2013, Amazon released over one thousand books about happiness (Brooks 566). While talking about how suffering helps people find deeper parts of themselves, he explains how theologian Paul Tillich believed that when people suffer, they are “taken beneath the routines of life and find they are not who they believed themselves to be,” (Brooks 567). Brooks concludes that one should take something good from the bad. He uses the examples of the parents of deceased children starting foundations in their honor, and Holocaust survivors trying to live up to the expectations of the loved ones they lost in concentration camps. Through these points, he proves that he actually has information to support his claims, and that he is not just producing
Brooks’ biggest points are that suffering provides opportunities to get an outsider’s point of view, better understand what others are experiencing, and help people learn more about themselves (567). Brooks argues that even though people’s main goal in life is to pursue happiness, hardship is what forms individuals (566). Brooks …show more content…
First, he states that today’s society focuses on being happy, and then goes on to say that over a three month span in 2013, Amazon released over one thousand books about happiness (Brooks 566). While talking about how suffering helps people find deeper parts of themselves, he explains how theologian Paul Tillich believed that when people suffer, they are “taken beneath the routines of life and find they are not who they believed themselves to be,” (Brooks 567). Brooks concludes that one should take something good from the bad. He uses the examples of the parents of deceased children starting foundations in their honor, and Holocaust survivors trying to live up to the expectations of the loved ones they lost in concentration camps. Through these points, he proves that he actually has information to support his claims, and that he is not just producing